Purefoods upbeat, confident to stay alive

Worry is not in Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio’s vocabulary. Neither is sourgraping.

Although the Tender Juicy Giants are behind 0-2 to Sta. Lucia Realty in the PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven finals, Gregorio said he’s optimistic the sun will shine in Game 3 at the Araneta Coliseum tonight.

“I’m a survivor,” said Gregorio. “If this turns out to be a long series, I told the guys that only means we’ll practice longer. It’s all about staying alive. We’re not thinking Game 6 or 7 yet. Our mood is upbeat because we’ve been in this predicament before and we’ve survived to win. We’re in a must-win situation and yes, we can.’”

Gregorio said playing James Yap and Kerby Raymundo long minutes isn’t a problem even as he conceded in Games 1 and 2, they sputtered down the stretch.

“James and Kerby are used to playing long minutes,” he said. “We’ve reviewed how they played during the conference and they don’t usually slow down in the fourth quarter. But against Sta. Lucia, it’s different because of all the banging, shoving, pulling and pushing that’s allowed by the referees. We try to use our quickness to advantage but the grabbing and holding impede our progress.”

Gregorio said he’s not sourgraping because that’s not his style but he’s appealing for a better appreciation of fouls and interpretation of calls.

“I’m confused about how fouls are being  called,” he went on. “We played Romel (Adducul) only nine minutes in Game 2 because of foul trouble. He gets called for a foul just when he’s positioning on defense while the other team’s big guys get away with a lot of physical play.”

Gregorio said adjusting to Sta. Lucia’s post offense is critical because in the Red Bull semifinal series, the Giants faced big men who shot from outside.

“Against Red Bull, we played big guys like Mike Hrabak and Mick Pennisi who fired threes and hardly posted up,” explained Gregorio. “Now, we’re playing Dennis (Espino) and Marlou (Aquino) who like to back in. I’m not surprised Dennis and Marlou are playing well. Anytime you’ve got a 6-7 and a 6-9 player, you have an advantage. But their advantage is correctible. We’re not dwelling on the past and our weaknesses. We’re looking to maximize our strengths, one of which is our quickness. So we’ll just use our quickness to offset their advantage in size.”

Playing zone to neutralize Sta. Lucia’s post offense is a key tactic but Gregorio said the defense must be careful not to give open looks for the Realtors outside shooters like Kelly Williams, Joseph Yeo, Norman Gonzales, Paolo Mendoza and Bitoy Omolon.

“Our offense isn’t a problem,” said Gregorio. “It’s our defense where we need to be tougher. We got to the finals because of defense. But giving up 109 points in Game 1 and 112 in Game 2 won’t get it done. It’s impossible for us to win if we give up those many points.”

Gregorio said Purefoods hasn’t been big in assists because the Giants are potent one-on-one players.

“If you check the statistics, you’ll see we’re near the bottom in assists but that’s because we generate a lot of points from James and Kerby going one-on-one,” said Gregorio. “We don’t usually run because we like our chances in the halfcourt. But the way guys like Ryan Reyes and Denok Miranda are allowed to play defense, it’s been tough for us to get shots. They’re not playing normal defense and that’s something we’d like the referees to look at.”

Gregorio said bouncing back from a 0-2 or even a 1-3 deficit is nothing new.

“For us, history is nothing,” said Gregorio. “When we were down 0-2 in 2002, no team had been able to come back to win the series in 20 years. When we were down 1-3 in 2006, no team had been able to come back to win the series in 15 years. But we did it. In our situation now, we know we can come back to win.”

Gregorio said adjustments will be made in Game 3.

“P. J. Simon gave us a big lift in Game 2 with 21 points,” he said. “We’re looking for more guys to step up and help out James and Kerby. But more than offense, it’s our defense that will keep us alive in the series.”