Defense Realtors’ deadly weapon against Giants
Game today (Araneta Coliseum)
Sta. Lucia Realty is making no secret of what it plans to do as it goes for a second straight win versus Purefoods Tender Juicy in their Smart PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven final showdown today at the Araneta Coliseum.
“We reached the finals through our defense. We beat Purefoods in Game One on our defense. The burden of adjustment is on them. But we’ll be ready. We’ll live and die by our defense,” said Sta. Lucia coach Boyet Fernandez.
Fernandez and his “Defensive Forces” seek to establish control in the series in Game Two which is likely to attract another mammoth crowd at the Big Dome. Game time is at
“We started slow. Championship jitters caught up with the guys. We tried different looks at defending Purefoods and it backfired early on. But to the credit of my players, they managed to recover and stepped up when they had to,” said Fernandez after the Realtors took the series opener at 109-97.
“It’s not about the X’s and O’s. It’s just about defense. For us, it’s the only way to win this championship,” Fernandez added.
Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio admitted they weren’t able to keep up with Sta. Lucia defensively Friday and it proved to be their undoing.
Sta. Lucia got eight steals and four blocks, and forced Purefoods to commit no less than 20 errors, producing 25 points off those turnovers in the series opener.
“We did a good job in the first half limiting them to five turnover points but we came careless in the second half. They went on to finish with 25 turnover points,” rued Gregorio.
“There’s no way we can win if we allow our opponents to score over 100 points. They scored so much and we didn’t know how to stop them,” Gregorio also said.
For the record, it was the sixth time in as many games this conference Purefoods lost a game while allowing an opponent at least 100 points.
Gregorio, however, isn’t daunted, saying the series has just started and they can work on the necessary adjustments.
The Giants can easily be motivated by the fact that they have overcome a 0-2 deficit in a best-of-seven series twice in the past.
The problem is that the Giants are up against a team driven by a great obsession to win a first-ever All-Filipino crown.
After Game One, the Realtors have accumulated 17 wins in 26 games – one short of the total number of victories the team notched throughout the season last year.
Sta. Lucia skipper Dennis Espino credits their breakthrough performance on the merry mix of veterans and young talents plus the wisdom of their youthful coach.
“I think the team has got its best blend in years. Mukhang nakuha na namin ang magandang formula we might as well make good use of it to hopefully win this crown,” said Espino.
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