Silver lining for underdog Kia
Four debuting ballclubs eye sprinting starts
Games Today (Cuneta Astrodome) 4:15 p.m. – Blackwater vs Meralco 7 p.m. – Rain or Shine vs TNT KaTropa
Two teams from the MVP group look to begin the new season on a bright note after absorbing playoff disappointments last season when they face separate rivals tonight in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Cuneta Astrodome.
TNT KaTropa battles Rain or Shine at 7 p.m. following Meralco’s meeting with Blackwater at 4:15 p.m. as they enter the allFilipino campaign eager to improve on last season’s performance and give title contenders San Miguel Beer and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel a run for their money.
TNT absorbed a Commissioner’s Cup finals loss to San Miguel last season while suffering semifinal exits in the two other conferences to highlight the debut of Nash Racela as PBA coach.
Kia coach Chris Gavina’s choice of clothing was far from accidental when he emerged from the locker room of the Filoil Flying V Centre after his team’s opening assignment in the PBA Philippine Cup sporting a statement shirt that read “Prove Them Wrong.”
“I wore this for a reason,” Gavina told reporters. “I told everybody, ‘Prove everybody wrong today,’ I told them you have no idea how many people have doubted us.”
Those three words turned into a rallying cry for a team that dealt with mockery after the Picanto decided it was best to give up the chance of having Christian Standhardinger and field a motley crew that will live and die with their so-called system known as “unconventional basketball.”
The Picanto almost made critics wrong, at least for one day, battling the fancied NLEX Road Warriors to the limit before suffering a 119-115 loss – a result that looked like a moral victory.
Eric Camson, who months earlier was taken from NLEX in a trade, orchestrated looked like a dream start to the Picanto’s campaign with 24 points, most of which were made from the left side of the three-point arc.
Then there were the three players Kia acquired from San Miguel - veterans Ronald Tubid and Jay-R Reyes and sophomore guard Rashawn McCarthy.
Tubid seemed ready to have a big night until an injury sidelined him for the rest of the game. McCarthy had 14 points in the longest appearance of his career while Reyes, wearing a man bun that made him a doppelganger of Standhardinger added 12 including baskets late in the contest.
The upset was close to becoming a reality, but NLEX got the needed breaks in the end. Larry Fonacier shattered Kia’s dreams with a fourpoint play, eventually handing the Picanto’s 13th straight loss since last season.
“We showed our grit tonight, we showed a great of character in being able to keep up with what I feel is one of the contenders coming into this conference. So if we can do this against NLEX, we can do this against anybody,” Gavina said.
He, however, refused to savor the moral victory.
“We can’t have any letdowns just because of this close game, bottomline is we didn’t win and we got to able to be lot hungrier next game against Phoenix,” he said as Kia next faces Phoenix on Dec. 27.