NorthPort continues its surprising run in the PBA 48th Philippine Cup, securing its fourth consecutive victory with a commanding performance on Friday.
Leveraging its youthful roster, the team has capitalized on its run-and-gun game, consistently ranking first in both points scored and fastbreak points.
The team’s latest triumph, a 112-96 win over the TNT Tropang Giga, marked the third time it surpassed the 100-point mark, raising its average to 107.6 points per game.
NorthPort’s 16 fastbreak points in the game brought its average to 23.4 - just behind Rain or Shine's league-best 25.2 average.
Run-and-gun game suits NorthPort
“Basically, we are a young team,” said NorthPort coach Bonnie Tan. “We have to take advantage of that aspect.”
Out of the 16 players in the NorthPort roster, 13 players are below 30 years old including Arvin Tolentino, who is having a huge conference, averaging a second-best 24 points per contest.
“More than three-fourths of our team, nasa rookies, sophomore, junior years nila. Gusto naming i-take advantage, malabas nila, ma-showcase nila lahat ng puwede nilang gawin,” said Tan.
The running game of NorthPort also makes up for the lack of a legitimate big man. Ben Adamos is the tallest in the team at 6-foot-7, with JM Calma and rookie Zav Lucero standing at 6-foot-6.
“We don’t have a legit big. One way of beating mga legit bigs is to outrun our opponents,” said Tan.
Even the veterans in team captain Jeff Chan, Paul Zamar, and Paolo Taha are keeping pace with the young players. Chan sat out Friday’s game due to a minor calf injury.
“Oo, may batang batang players kami, si captain ball Jeff Chan,” said Tan in jest, when asked if coaching NorthPort is like coaching a college team. “Nag-sit out lang siya. Gusto lang niya makahabol sa rookies, sophomores.”
“To stay consistent in winning games, kailangan naming ipakita na we have to maintain ‘yung na-achieve namin na stats,” said Tan.
Tan says NorthPort needs to reduce turnovers
Tan, however, said there are still a lot of things to improve on. For one, NorthPort needs to cut down on its turnovers as it has the most in the league with an average of 18 per contest.
“What I’m telling them is to stay grounded at keep on working hard, stick together. We have several stats na ‘yung team namin, nasa number one, pati ‘yung turnovers. We have to jell pa rin, getting to know each other, and to improve ‘yung playing style namin,” said Tan.
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