Best Import award no big deal for Hotshots’ Ratliffe

I’m trying to get a championship, says the Korean league veteran

IN HIS return tour of duty with the Star Hotshots, import Ricardo Ratliffe had seen significant improvement from the team he played for last year, most notably, the way the team has been playing defense.

“I just think that it’s a whole new team, a whole new system. We just take more pride on defense. With Coach Jason (Webb), we were pretty good last year, but I think this team, it’s defensive scheme is a little bit better. That’s the difference. We don’t worry much about offense, we worry more about our defense because defense starts our offense. I think that’s the biggest thing. Everybody’s working on defense. It starts with our captain, Rafi, he does a good job on defense. We start preaching on defense and against the best offensive team, we feel we’re the best defensive team, so it’s a good match up,” said Ratliffe.

With the way the Hotshots had been playing defense this conference, the Korean League veteran feels his team has a good chance of beating the powerhouse San Miguel Beermen, the reigning three-time Philippine Cup champions, and they were able to do that in Game 1 of their best-of-five semifinals series.

“I just want to give a lot of credit to Ian (Sangalang), Raffi (Reavis) and Aldrech (Ramos) because they came out fighting with me. Without them, it would be a lot harder. Charles (Rhodes) had 36 points, but he took maybe 27 shots. He had a great game, but I think he felt our defense. Those guys are great defenders and I took my hats off to the other bigs,” added Ratliffe.

The Hotshots were able to stop the Beermen despite missing the services of Marc Pingris in the playoffs.

Pingris, the heart and soul of the Hotshots’ defense, will be missing the remainder of the conference due to a hip injury.

But his absence hardly matter for Star, which has put together a string of seven straight wins, six of them coming from Ratliffe, who has yet to taste a loss in the tournament.

“I like our chances a lot. We’ve got a great coach, great players. Our defense is a lot better and it starts with Raff i, our captain. He does a good job on defense. He keeps preaching about it, to play good defense and that’s what we’ve been doing,” added Ratliffe.

Behind Ratliffe’s solid play, the Hotshots are making another run for a possible championship berth and the 6-foot-8 hardworking reinforcement has put himself in a better position to snare the Best Import award.

Star’s top gun Allein Maliksi noticed how Ratliffe’s game has improved by leaps and bounds.

“I highly feel that his game has improved a lot. He’s become a willing passer and his outside touch has improved. Before, he’s more like a one dimensional offensive player. Now, he has developed an outside touch. He’s a real workhorse. I don’t see him getting tired. He’s very strong and he looks okay with the rest of the teammates,” added Maliksi.

For Ratliffe, winning individual citation is no big deal and claiming the championship is all that matters to him.

“It’s not a big deal. It would be a good accomplishment. I got it when I played in Korea this past year. It would be cool to get it here, too. But If I don’t, I don’t care. I’m trying to get a championship,” he added.