FOR Magnolia coach Chito Victolero, there was no secret in his charges’ empathic 118-88 demolition of rival Ginebra in the “Manila Clasico” edition of the season-ending tourney last Sunday night– they simply brought their A-Game.
“We’re very unselfish as a team. It’s all about competing,” Victolero said. “In the pre-game, sinabi ko sa kanila na we have to enjoy the defensive battle kasi that’s our only chance against Ginebra.
“Against an elite team like Ginebra, we need to compete for 53 minutes. Actually nga 53 minutes ang pinag-uusapan namin,” he added.
Import Antonio Hester barely missed a triple double with 28 points, 18 rebounds and nine assists for the Hotshots, while Mark Barroca chipped in 21 markers, three boards and three dimes.
Paul Lee and Calvin Abueva also had 18 points each as Magnolia, after a 0-3 start, notched a fitting follow up to a 108-95 triumph over Phoenix four days ago and improved to 2-3.
The Kings saw their three-game winning streak that included a 115-100 whipping of NorthPort last Friday come to a screeching halt and fell to 3-1.
Victolero said the arrival of the do-it-all, 6-foot-6 Hester has reinvigorated the Hotshots.
“I’m very proud of my players dahil down 0-3, back-to-back games, at least nakuha namin and Hester was a big factor for us. He changed the pace, the tempo of our game, everything,” he said.
“That’s why (even) without Ian (Sangalang), now we have at least a go-to guy in the post. It creates a lot of opportunities for our small guys.”
Ginebra tactician Tim Cone admitted his team was simply outplayed.
“As (assistant) coach Kirk (Collier) said in the huddle, it was a perfect storm of negatives for us tonight. I hate to admit this, but we were really a tired team tonight. You can see it in our body language, our lack of activity. We just weren’t getting up and down the floor.
We are not moving the ball. Ball was moving slowly tonight. We were late in all of our rotations,” Cone said.
“It was a perfect storm. We were tired and we played a team that was desperate and had a new life with an import. Just came out and they out-physical us and out-energized us. Just turned into a really embarrassing night. You don’t want that on a ‘Manila Clasico’ night when the crowd’s watching.”
