Uichico vows fight until the end

MANILA, Philippines - Barangay Ginebra coach Joseph Uichico yesterday assured fans the team’s vaunted fighting spirit will never wane as he set a goal of a strong start in the PBA Fiesta Conference while awaiting the return of injured mainstays Mark Caguioa and Junthy Valenzuela.

The Kings open hostilities against Coca-Cola at the Araneta Coliseum next Wednesday. This year’s Fiesta Conference has a height limit of 6-6 for imports unlike in the previous edition where there was no ceiling and Ginebra won the title with 7-1 center Chris Alexander.

“Technically, we’re not the defending champions because we won the last conference with a seven-footer,” said Uichico. “The real defending champion is Alaska which won the 2007 conference with a 6-6 limit for imports. The way I see it, Alaska and Talk ‘N’ Text are the teams to beat. They made it to the finals in the Philippine Cup and they’ve even gotten stronger with their imports.”

Uichico said the Kings’ immediate priority is to get healthy.

“We don’t want to start the way we did in the last two conferences (0-5 in the 2008 Fiesta Conference and 2-5 in the Philippine Cup),” he went on. “We had to make a run just to get into the playoffs. We’ll try to go as far as we can with a healthy lineup. Rafi (Reavis) and Eric (Menk) are back practicing and they’ll be in uniform when we play Coca-Cola. Everyone is healthy except for Mark and Junthy.”

Caguioa sat out the last conference undergoing rehabilitation for chronic tendonitis in both knees in Los Angeles. He is slowly recovering and may be back in action before the season ends. Valenzuela underwent knee surgery recently and will be out two more months.

“We’re monitoring Mark’s condition closely,” he said. “His situation requires a lot of rest, rehabilitation and strengthening. He aggravated his tendonitis when he played hurt in the finals of the last Fiesta Conference. The pain in the knees is gone but Mark still hasn’t done sprints and hasn’t gone back on the court. His treatment is called sonocure and it involves high-frequency ultra-sound therapy, which can only be taken five times, once a week. Mark has now done three. Surgery is our last recourse but from all indications, Mark is responding very well to the treatment.” Picking up veterans J. C. Intal, Doug Kramer and Chico Lanete via a three-way trade with Purefoods and Air21 was a big lift, said Uichico.

“The timing was just right,” he said. In the last conference, we could’ve beaten San Miguel in the playoffs but were a man short in our rotation. We were exhausted when we got to the fourth period because our guys played too long minutes. The new guys are still learning our system. They’ll contribute for sure. They’ve filled up the holes in our lineup or at least narrowed the gaps. We’ve told the new guys to play with the Ginebra spirit – never-say-die. That’s the Ginebra mystique and if they don’t play with the Barangay spirit, they won’t fit in.”

Uichico said import Rod Nealy’s return is a boost. Nealy, 28, averaged 31.9 points in 22 games for the Kings in the 2007 Fiesta Conference where Ginebra lost to San Miguel Beer in the quarterfinal playoffs.

“We always had Rod in mind to bring back,” said Uichico. “We know how he plays so we’re not making any big adjustments. He’s now more experienced, having played a lot overseas after his first tour with us. He’s lost some weight and he’s more athletic now. We don’t want a role player. We want a scorer to make up for Mark’s absence and Rod can do it all – he posts up, he scores off the dribble, he shoots from outside. He’s the kind of import we need to pick up our slack in scoring. He gives us no problems on and off the court. His attitude is great. He practices hard, reports for work on time and hardly goes out at night.”