DESPITE falling short of their goal of making it to the finals of the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup, ousted champion B-MEG Derby Ace can take comfort in the fact that its rookie coach, Jorge Gallent, still feels proud of what the Llamados had achieved. The Llamados were eliminated by Talk ‘N Text last Friday by winning Game 6 of their semifinal showdown. But Gallent said the team has nothing to be ashamed of.
“Sayang siyempre, pero we have nothing to frown about,’’ said Gallent, who coached his first conference after replacing Ryan Gregorio for the Llamados before the season started.
Injuries to key players had B-MEG Derby Ace starting rather shakily, as it opened up its campaign with a 1-5 card.
Slowly and steadily, though, the Llamados clawed their way back into contention and reached the semis.
The Llamados won six of their next eight to finish at 7-7 in the eliminations. They then swept Meralco in two games in the quarterfinals, before finally losing to the favored Texters in the semis.
‘’We started 1-5, then reached this far in the semi-finals. Siguro, it was a great accomplishment na rin for me and for the team,” Gallent said. ‘’It was a bad start, but we peaked at the right time and still made it to the Top 4.’’
During the final moments of their conference in their 72-89 defeat to the Texters in Game 6, with just over 20 seconds left and the conference over for them, Gallent, surprisingly, still called a timeout to gather his team.
Gallent explained that what he did was not meant to spite the Texters, but only to tell his wards that they should be proud of what they accomplished despite the defeat.
‘’I just wanted to talk to the boys that they did a good job. I told them to not put their heads down. I told them that it was a great conference for us. I didn’t draw a play or anything. I just told them about this conference that we still did a good job even when we were struggling at the beginning we never quit. Nothing intended, I just wanted to talk to them before going to the locker room,” Gallent said.
Instead of crying over spilled milk, Gallent instead is looking forward to to the next conference.
‘’We’ll move forward and prepare for the next conference. Hopefully, we can improve more.’’
Meanwhile, team skipper Kerby Raymundo, who has yet to play this season due to injuries in both his knees, is in the final stages of his rehabilitation in the United States. Raymundo had surgery last September and is reportedly eyeing a return in the middle of the second conference for the Llamados.
Jeric Lopez, Manila Standard Today
