EIGHT years late, Kobe beat Shaq again.
Kobe Shinwa University, still led by head coach Kiyokazu Yamamoto after nearly a decade, had the last laugh against veteran coach Shaq delos Santos’ Cignal side in their penultimate PVL Invitational preliminary-round match.
With both coaches parading new sets of players, it was still the same winning outcome for Yamamoto against delos Santos — also in four sets, 25-7, 25-18, 19-25, 27-25.
READ: Kobe Shinwa sets up clash with Chery Tiggo for last finals seat
Back in 2017, Yamamoto’s Kobe Shinwa denied Shaq-led Petron Blaze victory in the final match of that year’s Philippine Superliga (PSL) Invitational Cup in four sets, 25-17, 25-19, 21-25, 25-18.
That win handed Kobe Shinwa the championship of that conference, one it shared with a different Cignal team led by George Pascua at the time.
Kobe Shinwa’s first taste of glory on Philippine soil is already a distant memory for Yamamoto.
But in order to still get the win like he did last time, he took on a pragmatic approach and hand-picked which of Shaq’s players must be guarded by his young guns.
“It’s been quite a long time since I last faced coach Shaq. He has different players now with Cignal and I couldn’t recognize them anymore [from my last stint in the Philippines],” Yamamoto said.
“My advice to my players now is to watch out for players #11 [Jackie Acuna] and #8 [Erika Santos]. That’s what I told them before the game to watch out for those two players.”
Acuna was held to eight markers while Santos, the reigning preseason MVP, produced 11.
Mamba mentality
Above all, his most important advice for his wards that have an average age of just 19 years old was to not lose the smile on their faces regardless of what the scoreboard read.
“In the first and second sets, we won by big margins. Maybe Cignal wasn’t in their best condition yet [during the first two sets],” Yamamoto said.
“In the third set, our momentum was cut short and Cignal was able to get back in the match.
“I told my players in the fourth set that they still need to enjoy the game [to get the win]. That was my advice for them.”
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