MANILA, Philippines - The crowd favorite Brgy. Ginebra San Miguel Kings got the shock of their lives in Game 1 of the PBA Cebuana Lhuiller Commissioner's Cup Finals.
The Kings who gate crashed to the Finals after a 0-4 start in the conference rammed into stonewall defense of the number one seed Alaska Aces and the result was a humiliating 87-70 loss in front of close to 20,000 fans that trooped to the Big Dome last night.
Ginebra coach Alfrancis Chua had to dig deep in search for the right words to fire up his never-say-die team but to no avail.
"I just told them that this is not best-of-50. This is only best-of-5. If you're just going to play like that, then you don't have business to be here in the Finals," Chua told Philstar.com after the loss.
"Sabi ko sa halftime: the guys who want to play, stay on the left side; the guys who want to go home, stay on the right side. Siguro may hangover pa nung panalo namin sa Talk n Text nung nakaraan pero hindi excuse 'yun," Chau added.
If there's a silver lining in the Game 1 loss, Chua pointed to their defense after that forgettable opening quarter that saw the Aces zoomed to a 14-0 start.
"Actually, we just played bad in the first quarter. Sa second quarter, all na kami pero the thing is nabaon kami kaagad eh. Imagine mo yun 14-0 start sila," Chua said.
With this conference's Finals shorter due to the contracted PBA calendar in preparation for the FIBA-Asia joust in August, the Kings need to adjust fast before it's too late.
"Ang adjustment na kailangan eh yung mga utak nila. They have to set their mind that this is it. Kapag may urgency, iba na," said Chua, who pointed out their series against Rain or Shine and Talk n Text in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively.
The Kings are no stranger to this kind of situation but Chua said they should not fall to a sense of complacency especially letting the fans down in the biggest stage of the tournament.
"Mali yung nagpapadehado eh. Kailangan ibahin nila ang mindset nila. Finals na 'to eh. Dapat patayan na," Chua said. "Finals tapos tinambakan kami ng ganito, masakit para sa akin."