BLACKWATER takes on NorthPort Wednesday in the PBA Commissioner's Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum with Bossing coach Ariel Vanguardia hoping the small steps forward his Bossing have been taking would net them the desired results.
A follow-up win to its 109-106 shocker over San Miguel Beer last week would give Blackwater a 3-2 record overall although Vanguardia knows it would surely take some doing against a NorthPort side, also currently at 2-2, bristling to bounce back from a 93-117 drubbing from TNT only last Saturday.
"Malakas ang NorthPort and coming off a loss so mas dangerous sila," stressed Vanguardia, using as his gauge to his assessment the Batang Pier's start to the conference that featured wins over Phoenix and Meralco sandwiching a 104-105 loss to Bay Area.
"Before that (TNT) game they could have been 3-0, kasi nga na-tsambahan lang sila ng Bay Area," explained Vanguardia. "And we know how we were embarrassed by Bay Area."
But the Bossing have seemingly put behind them that 87-133 humiliation on opening day from the Dragons and are now focusing on their target in what Vanguardia calls the "next segment" of their mid-season campaign. "Itong conference hinati namin sa tatlo ang eliminations dahil 12 games, so 4-4-4," he revealed.
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"So tapos na 'yung first segment, first four games, going to the next segment naman kami. So bagong start ulit, kumbaga, itong next four games. Sa tingin namin, kapag lagi kaming 2-2 each remaining segment, top eight. Pag may 3-1 o parehong 3-1, may pag-asa kaming mag-top six."
For the uninitiated, the top eight teams from the eliminations advance to the quarterfinals, where the top two would enjoy a twice-to-beat advantage over the lowest-ranked teams while those at Nos. 3 to 6 would engage in best-of-three duels.
Still, Vanguardia doesn't want his team to get ahead of itself. "One game at a time lang kami dapat," he said. "Kailangan pa naming maging consistent. So far kasi rollercoaster ang conference namin."
Vanguardia's reservations are also tempered by the small improvement his team has shown since he took over the helm in September of last year.
"Una tinuruan nating dumikit. Nu'ng natuto na, doon na nag-umpisang maka-tsamba, maka-silat," stated Vanguardia. "Pero so far dito, hindi pa sanay mag-protect ng lead, na tuloy-tuloy mag-dominate. So ano lang kami, matutunan muna 'yung kung saan kami nananalo and then take it from there."
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Main reason why Vanguardia keeps on reiterating his satisfaction with import Cameron Krutwig, who may not be as prolific scorer as the other reinforcements but does quite a bit of everything else like his NorthPort counterpart, Prince Ibeh.
"Kaya nga maganda ang labanan nila ni Ibeh," said Vanguardia. "Parehong hindi pala-score pero parehong defensive specialists. Pero malaki din sa radar namin si (Robert) Bolick." (NC)
