Alas wants series short and sweet

MANILA, Philippines - Louie Alas, coach of the AirAsia Philippine Patriots, yesterday stressed the need for his wards to start strong and play tough defense to topple the Chang Thailand Slammers in the opener of their best-of-three series for the AirAsia ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) Season 2 crown in Bangkok tomorrow.

“We have to play consistently from start to finish and we’ve got to play tough defense,” said Alas before departing for Thailand yesterday. “In a short title series like this, you have to give your best shot right away.”

While he expects the series to be tough and exciting, Alas wants it to be a short one since going back to Bangkok for Game 3 would be very difficult: “It’s very hard to beat a home team in a sudden death, many factors will come into play.”

The Patriots, co-owned by Harbour Centre CEO Mikee Romero and Tony Boy Cojuangco, will be trying to duplicate a title sweep against Indonesia’s Satria Muda BritAma last year.

Like in their semis series with the Kuala Lumpur Dragons, Alas said local players like Egay Billones, Junjun Cabatu, Chito Jaime, Benedict Fernandez, JP Alcaraz and Warren Ybanez must double their effort to ease off some pressure from imports Gabe Freeman and Steve Thomas.

The high-leaping Freeman, however, vowed to go all out again to ensure the team’s victory.

“If Egay and Bene (Fernandez) make their shots, then we have a good chance of winning the championship again. But for us to win, we have to play solid defensively,” said Freeman, who averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds a game in the elims.

“Their leadership skills are evident on the court, they’re the ones coaxing their teammates to exert more effort,” said team manager Erick Arejola who added that the team will be missing forward 6-foot-7 Alex Crisano, who injured his right Achilles heel in last Wednesday’s practice.