Express mentor says it's the mind that matters

MANILA, Philippines - Air21 coach Bong Ramos admitted yesterday it’s a long shot to survive Talk ‘N’ Text in the PBA Commmissioner’s Cup semifinals but as he believes in the adage “the ball is round,” the Express might just make it to the Last Dance with a little bit of luck.

Game 1 of the best-of-five series starts at the Araneta Coliseum tonight with the top-seeded Tropang Texters favored to advance. 

“I hope they’re rusty and we can sustain our peaking,” said Ramos. “It’s important to win Game 1 because it’s a short series. Playing Talk ‘N’ Text is tough. They’re more solid than before. But we won’t give up. We’ve played consecutive games but we’re not thinking we’re tired. It’s all in the mind. My role is to motivate our players and not to be content with reaching the semifinals. We’ll try our best and who knows, we might just score another upset.”

Ramos, 50, confessed that before Game 3 of the Alaska series last Wednesday, he had tons of butterflies in his stomach. “Of course, I was nervous, more than in Games 1 and 2,” he said. “It was like David fighting Goliath. I respect coach Tim (Cone) so much – he’s an institution and I know Alaska is a championship franchise. But when we entered the quarterfinals, I had a good feeling that we could beat Alaska. I knew we had a deeper bench. When Tim would rotate his players, I went on the attack. Take Leo Avenido, for instance. He could start for us but instead, he came off the bench and Alaska had difficulty finding someone to match up against him in their second unit.”

In Game 3, Ramos said he came prepared to make adjustments. “Tim did things that he didn’t do in Games 1 and 2, like play a box-and-one and triangle-and-two,” he continued. “In the first quarter, we were disorganized and scored only 14 points. We couldn’t execute. At halftime, I told the guys to keep moving and play together. We used staggered screens to free up Alpha (Bangura). When they played the triangle-and-two, we set picks for Dondon (Hontiveros) and Alpha and suddenly, we had a free man. That’s how Wynne (Arboleda) and Josh (Urbiztondo) got good looks in the third period. Basketball is a game of adjustments and sometimes, if you make even the smallest adjustment and there is no countermove from the other team, it could be the game difference. We’re not afraid to switch in defense. We know we have to stay with our man and if we’re screened off, there should be help on the switch. The idea is never to give your man an open look.”

Against Talk ‘N’ Text, Ramos said it won’t be easy stalling the Tropa’s transition game. “They’re quick with Jimmy (Alapag) and Jason (Castro) but we’ve got size in our backcourt with Dondon and Leo,” he notes. “I don’t know if we’ll be able to outrebound them like we outrebounded Alaska but I think we have the capability to do it. All our players are overachievers – Jay-R (Reyes), Josh, Dondon, Wynne, Danny (Seigle), Dorian (Peña) and down the line. They’re all willing to sacrifice. I’ve told them to play as a team, walang sisihan. All they’ve got to do is to follow my instructions. I’ll cover for them if we fail. If we fail, it’s my fault, nobody else’s. That’s my philosophy.”

Working with the San Miguel Beer recruits has been a blessing. “Danny, Dorian, Dondon and Paul (Artadi) came in after the conference started,” said Ramos. “In the beginning, we had to learn to adjust to each other. I was actually surprised when the trade happened. But that’s professional basketball. It’s not productive to dwell on history. It’s important to just move forward. Besides, we weren’t short-handed in the trade.”

Ramos said after the trade, one of the first things he did was to sit down with Seigle. “I found out he had practice only twice or thrice before the conference started because of an injury,” he went on. “I talked with Danny and told him my plan of playing him at the four spot where he can be matched up against big guys who aren’t as quick as guys at the three spot. He told me he can do it and responded well at practice. So I’ve played him exclusively at the four spot and he’s doing very well. I don’t think the San Miguel players have anything to prove. They’re tested players. I know there was some pain leaving but that’s life in the pros. Carlo (Sharma) was also sad that his brother Rabeh (Al-Hussaini) left. The basketball world is small. Whenever you go, you just have to do your best. Who knows? You might even go back to your old team like Lordy Tugade.”

Ramos said it’s a thrill to coach in the semifinals. He was head coach for only one conference in the PBA previously – the 2005 Fiesta Conference where his team FedEx lost to Purefoods in the best-of-three wildcards. The only holdover in the team, now Air21, is Arboleda.

Ramos played for Mapua in the NCAA then suited up for Bank of Rizal, Lagerlite, ESQ Marketing and Purefoods in the PABL. In 1988, Ramos and Ric-Ric Marata were close to joining the US league International Basketball Association which set a height limit of 6-4 but the deal fell through. Instead, Ramos played over three years as the first Filipino import in the Indonesian league.

From Indonesia, Ramos was invited by Joel Banal to try coaching but wanted to play some more in the PBL until a knee injury sidelined him for good. Ramos stayed away from basketball for five years, working as a marketing man with Colors and Ivy League shoes. Then, Banal brought Ramos back to the game as Mapua head coach. Ramos went on to coach Batangas, Manila and Laguna in the MBA from 1998 to 2001 and became an assistant coach with Barangay Ginebra in the PBA in 2002. Ramos returned to Indonesia after a conference with Ginebra and worked as an expatriate coach for three years. In 2005, he was hired as FedEx head coach in the PBA but after a conference, left to join Banal’s staff with Talk ‘N’ Text. He was with the Texters for three seasons then moved back to Indonesia and the last two years, coached Brunei in the ABL.

“I owe a lot to (Air21 chairman) Mr. (Bert) Lina,” said Ramos. “He gave me the chance to come back to the PBA. This is only my second conference as a head coach. I’m grateful to Governor Manny (Alvarez) and (team manager) Allan Gregorio for their support. It was Allan who spotted Alpha in Dubai. It took a while before Alpha could come over because he was waiting for the checks from his former club in Lebanon to clear. He was given his team release by FIBA because there was a breach of contract. His agent never got paid and his payments were often delayed. We’re happy with Alpha. He’s the best import in the PBA and we want him back for the Third Conference.”