But Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio wouldn’t comment on how far he thinks the finals will go, saying he’s not looking beyond Game 1 at the Araneta Coliseum tonight.
Gregorio, in his second finals appearance, insists the Chunkee Giants are the underdogs and he likes it that way. Guiao, in his seventh finals, couldn’t care less which team is favored or not.
"This is a battle of overachieving teams," says Gregorio. "You can’t predict what’s going to happen. We’re the underdog. We’re the smallest team in the league. We’re not even supposed to be in the finals. We’re gatecrashers. As the underdog, we’ll just have to play tougher and harder. The only way we can win is through sheer hard work."
Guiao, 46, says the odds don’t make a difference. "I’ve stopped considering putting a tag on which team is the favorite or the underdog," he continues. "If you want to brainwash your players into believing you’re the underdog to relieve the pressure of the finals, go ahead if you think it will give you an advantage. All this talk of being the favorite or the underdog is just for public consumption. As far as we’re concerned, we’ll just play our hearts out whether we’re favored or not."
Gregorio, 33, says the finals is special to Purefoods because it’s the culmination of a long rebuilding process.
"When we began to rebuild four years ago, we envisioned this situation," he says. "Now it’s a reality. We’ve been disappointed and frustrated during the rebuilding years when we lost more than we won. But we stuck to our plan. This means a lot to Papa Jun (Limpot) and Noy (Castillo), our veterans. Papa Jun is in his second finals. Noy has played in seven finals but not lately. After we beat Air21 to make it to the finals, I embraced him and thanked him for his patience during our rebuilding period. Remember he shot 24 points in Game 4 of the Air21 series–Noy’s a real winner."
For Guiao, it’s his seventh finals stint. "It feels like my first," he says. "I’m very excited. By the way, my contract is up this year. Of course, I’d like to continue coaching Red Bull. There’s nothing like winning a title in the year your contract is expiring."
Guiao says Red Bull’s strengths are its balanced offense, experience and depth.
"We can run or we can set up," he notes. "We’ve got the bench to sustain us in a long series. Experience is on our side. We’ve got four players with championship experience then there’s Celino Cruz who’s a tested veteran. As for our weakness, we must improve on our decision-making on the court, that means bettershot selection and better movement in our defensive rotation. We can’t afford to commit too many mistakes against Purefoods because they pounce on you as soon as you make an error."
Gregorio concedes that Red Bull has a decided size advantage but he says Purefoods is ready for war.
"We know how to deal with size," he says." We showed it against Air21 when we battled Yancy (de Ocampo) and Shawn (Daniels). We’ll just have to play smart. We walked the ball to disrupt their rhythm. We might do that against Red Bull but we’ll run whenever we can. We’ll use our quickness to neutralize their size advantage. We thrive on teamwork, everybody working together. As they say, teamwork makes the dream work."
Gregorio says Red Bull’s weakness is a tendency to commit too many fouls because of its physical defense. "If they get into foul trouble, their rotation is affected," he says. "What’s difficult is it’s hard to scout Red Bull because coach Yeng is so unpredictable. He uses different starters and different combinations every game to confuse the opposing team. And he has the bench to do that."
Gregorio says the Barako he is most wary of is Lordy Tugade whom he describes as a complete player.
Regarding the imports, Gregorio says they neutralize each other. "That matchup is probably even," he muses. "(James) Penny and Marquin (Chandler) have almost the same build and play the same style. They both like to face up to the basket. Penny is a great blocker, particularly coming from the weak side, and gets his local teammates involved. But Marquin has been with us since Day 1. He’s a leader, the ultimate go-to guy and a tough defender, too."
Guiao says Penny played out of position in the Ginebra series but against Purefoods, will slide back from No. 4 to No. 3 which is his natural position. "It was hard for James to play (Chris) Porter who’s a real No. 4," says Guiao. "But that’s not a problem in the Purefoods series. James was like a fish out of water against Porter. Against Chandler, he’ll be fine."
Guiao, however, foresees Kerby Raymundo matching up against Penny more than Chandler even as he anticipates an intriguing duel between the Kid from Letran and Rico Villanueva. The key local matchup, he says, is James Yap versus Tugade.
Guiao points to Raymundo as the Purefoods player he’s wary of. "Kerby has the Red Bull mentality," he says. "He started out with us. He won a championship with us. He knows how we play. He’s aggressive and competitive."
Gregorio says the three keys to victory in the finals are execution, bench and mental toughness.
"We’re No. 1 in two-point field goal percentage," says Gregorio. "But we don’t want to engage Red Bull in a shooting contest. We’ll try to keep every game close and steal a win in the end. They’re coming off a tough seven-game series so I think their bench will be tired. We’ll exploit that. Half of our guys are first-timers in the finals. We’re hungry. The Air21 series prepared us for Red Bull. We know it will be a tough series but we’re ready for them."
Guiao says the keys to victory are defense, rebounding and defense again.