Despite losing six of their 14 games, the reigning ASEAN Basketball League champions managed to squeak their way into the final round when they defeated last year’s runner-up Kuala Lumpur Dragons in their best-of-three semis series.

“This season has been tough," said Patriots assistant mentor Bogs Adornado during Tuesday’s Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at Shakey’s United Nations. “Other teams are motivated this year, and they have improved a lot while, we have a new line-up this season. We didn’t have the kind of players that we had last year."

“It took us some time to develop our chemistry. We just picked things up in our last two games where we saw an improvement in our play," said Adornado, who was joined by fellow assistant coach Glenn Capacio in the forum.

The Patriots await the winner in the other semis match between top seed Chang Thailand Slammers and the fourth-ranked Singapore Slingers. The Slammers hold a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three affair.

But if they were to chose, Adornado and Capacio would rather have the Slingers as their finals rival. That’s because the Slammers swept the Filipinos in all of their three matches this season.

“Singapore doesn’t really have a deep bench. But Thailand has good imports," said Adornado, a three-time Most Valuable Player and Hall of Famer in the Philippine Basketball Association.

Adornado, best remembered for spearheading the Crispa Redmanizers and four other PBA teams, was referring to former Philippine import Jason Dixon and Chris Kuete as well as Filipinos Froilan Baguion, Roel Hugnatan and Ardy Larong.

“We have home court advantage if we face Singapore," noted Capacio.

Capacio, former mentor of Far Eastern University in the UAAP, remarked that the Patriots still need to improve on several facets of their game going into the finals.

“We have to polish our defense in the early part of the game and execute well on offense, especially down the stretch," said Capacio.

Capacio added that the Patriots will use the long break to develop cohesion.

“We will be scheduling some tune-up games because we will be rusty if we continue to rest."

Gabe Freeman has been the workhorse for the Patriots recently, scoring 36 points and 11 rebounds in Game 1. He played limited minutes in their Game 2 win in Kuala Lumpur due to foul trouble, but managed to finish with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

“The team needs him. He is so motivated to win. But sometimes he can’t control himself, getting all those fouls, and our opponents are capitalizing on it," Capacio said. -