I enter the Araneta Coliseum and I am sick. My voice is as bad as it sounds. My nose is as runny as a leaky faucet. Still, I meet Meralco Head Coach Ryan Gregorio outside the locker room, right before his team's game against the San Miguel Beermen. Sleep therapy and medicine for the common cold cause my sluggishness. The loss of Mark Cardona and coaching a team unsure of making the PBA playoffs cause Gregorio’s restlessness. I am only physically sick. Gregorio, meantime, must be worried sick. Gregorio swears he is not. He is, after all, a basketball coach. And coaches are handsomely paid to worry about everything. They are also compensated to translate perpetual anxiety into hard-court success even if it means having to do it without the team's best player.
"Si Mac is really hurt," Gregorio admits. "I believe my players. He assures me that if he feels better he will play. It is a subjective injury. It is about tolerance to pain. And he is a warrior and the mere fact that he is not playing means he’s really hurt."
How can one not worry? How can one not be sick to his stomach? Gregorio wishes he could squeeze more production out of former MVP Asi Taulava. Especially now that he'll squeeze nothing out of Cardona for as long as Meralco's franchise player is injured. The Cardona-Taulava pairing seemed promising at the onset. Turns out, foundations can also look better on blueprints than in actual games.
Gregorio has players that shoot too much. He also has players that don't shoot enough. Other guys on his team love to play defense all night. They put a smile on Gregorio's face. Other guys prefer to focus on offense exclusively. They make Gregorio's nights feel longer than it should. Gregorio has won championships with shut-down defense and clutch playmaking. If he can clone Bitoy Omolon and Cardona so Meralco can have multiple defenders and scorers, he surely would.
"I've braced myself for a very, very tough ride," Gregorio says. "It's been a roller-coaster ride. Games we weren't supposed to win, we're winning. Games we weren't supposed to lose, we're losing. And now we are having a hard time scoring and all of a sudden our prime scorer is not playing."
I am groggy. Meralco, after losing to San Miguel, is now wobbling at 2-5. Cardona is ailing. Taulava is struggling. And Gregorio is busy, not spending time in bed, but looking for a cure. Meralco is set to ship utility forward Dennis Daa to Barako Bull in exchange for rookie Hans Thiele. Thiele is expected to help Meralco in quickness and rebounding. He will also lower the average age of Meralco's frontline.
Meralco won't stop there. In case Cardona's injury, which Gregorio describes as month-to-month, conks Cardona out longer than expected, Meralco also needs a big-time scorer. Chances are the Bolts will try to find a cure for that too.
"The world doesn't stop. We will always find ways."
Mico Halili, GMA News TV
