AS Far Eastern University's losing streak extended to two, new head tactician Denok Miranda believes that the Tamaraws have yet to fully scratch the surface of what they are truly capable of.
With the Tams dropping their first pair of matches by a margin of 8.5 points, Miranda commends the team's gradual yet significant progress being taken one game at a time.
READ: Coach Denok's first-day jitters eased by presence of Arwind, FEU greats
"Mas happy ako sa pinakita ng mga players. andami naming natutunan nu’ng first game (versus La Salle) na na-apply namin in this game (versus NU)," said Miranda. "Ganyan naman ang basketball eh, may nananalo at may natatalo. Pero ang importante dito is natututo kami kung ano ‘yung mga pagkakamali namin."
For Miranda, resilience has been a strong suit of the Tamaraws thus far. But in order to reach a certain level that will no longer necessitate resilience on a regular basis, his wards must ride a tricky learning curve to learn more about themselves as a collective unit.
"‘Yun naman ‘yung tinatrabaho namin nu’ng offseason na kailangan namin maging resilient every game. Bago pa rin kami at nasa process pa ‘yung team kaya hindi pa namin na-didiscover kung ano pa ‘yung kailangan naming ma-discover," Miranda shared.
"May mga lapses pa rin so kailangan talagang mas mag-communicate pa para madaling maka-recover. Kapag hindi sila nagsasalita, mahihirapan lang kami kasi andaming plays at movements every game so sobrang importante ng nag-cocommunicate."
And in terms of in-game particulars, Miranda rued his squad's 'flat starts' which ultimately makes it harder to convert to winning perfomances.
"Flat ‘yung start namin. Nag-compete naman kami nu’ng second half so kailangan lang namin ayusin ‘yung ma-cocontrol namin," the former FEU cager-turned-mentor said.
"Sa mga ganyang klaseng team na malalakas (gaya ng NU), hindi kami pwedeng flat ‘yung start kasi two games na kaming humahabol eh. Kailangan sa first half pa lang, ma-contain na namin sila. Tsaka ‘yung maliliit na bagay lang naman like 50-50 balls, du’n kami nasasaktan," he added.
Miranda will bat for his first-ever win as a head coach when FEU plays UE on Saturday, 5 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
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