Alaska coach Alex Compton was frank enough to admit that the Aces will have to be better and learn from their losses if they intend to win a championship.
The Aces are aiming to finish in the top four at the end of the eliminations and earn a twice-to-beat advantage entering the quarterfinals of the PBA Governors' Cup.
To date, Alaska is well within its target goal, occupying fourth spot behind league-leader Hotshots (7-1), Barangay Ginebra San Miguel (7-2) and Blackwater Elite (6-2) but barely ahead of the vast improved Phoenix Fuel Masters (6-3).
The Aces have four more games left in their assignments and Compton knows well that none of those will be a walk-in-the- park including their upcoming game on Wednesday against winless Columbian Dyip.
Interestingly, their next three games will be against opponents who are as determined to crash into the Magic Four.
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Alaska collides with Blackwater on Oct. 21, NLEX on Oct. 26 and NorthPort on Oct. 28.
"We like to be married into those top four spots," said Compton in the aftermath of their 83-73 loss to Magnolia while stressing the need to win against the elite teams.
"Ultimately, if you want to win a championship you have to go through teams that are playing as well as Magnolia," he said.
"We've lost to Ginebra and Magnolia now. But you hope at this point you'd get the lesson like 'Look at what they're doing and how well are they playing.'
"We've got to be better if we want to beat a team like that," Compton said.(JT)
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