Phoenix hoping they could get over the hump and make semis
FOR the past few conferences, Phoenix has been on the rise, making the playoffs but still knocking at the semis door and couldn’t get itself inside the Final Four where the top dogs compete.
But for the Fuel Masters coach Ariel Vanguardia, it’s high time for his team to get over the hump.
“I’ve been trying to squeeze the best out of my team. Before, it’s OK for us to make it to the quarterfinals. But you cannot keep up with your own success. When you’re already in the quarterfinals, the expectations change. You need to move up. I’ve been with the team for one year. They’re beginning to figure out what I want to do and what we want to achieve. We want to get to the next level,” said Mr. Vanguardia.
Mr. Vanguardia and the rest of the Fuel Masters are beginning to prove to all and sundry that they’re ready to move up. In two games in the PBA Governors’ Cup, the team had won the first two games, including a big one against Alaska on Saturday, one that would define the new character of an up and coming squad which is now ready to level up.
Winning a grinding game against a team that is being handled by people whom he had worked before had given Mr. Vanguardia a lot of help in guiding his young squad to victory.
“It was like a playoff game. Alex (Compton) was my former player in the MBA, Louie (Alas) is my coach. We know each other. We know what to expect. They’re a very good organization. They’re hard to match up,” said Mr. Vanguardia.
Alaska is a classy organization which Phoenix wants to emulate and for a good reason.
“My team manager, Paolo Bugia, was from Alaska. He played a lot of years for Alaska. He’s looking for the discipline, he’s looking for the execution and he’s longing for the bonding he had seen in Alaska. I told him it won’t happen overnight. I knew it because I’ve worked with their coaches before,” added Mr. Vanguardia.
After leading the Fuel Masters to the quarterfinals, it’s now or never for the Fuel Masters.
“We’re very ambitious this conference. I’m used to coaching in college, you have to wait for one year, prepare early for next season. In the ABL, it’s a six-month season. Here in the PBA, you have three chances in one season. But you also have three chances of getting hurt. It’s painful to get hurt. In the PBA, it’s difficult to win and it’s painful to lose,” said Mr. Vanguardia.
“It’s painful to see you’re just watching those teams playing in the semifinals and dream that one day, you’ll be able to get there. But until we’re not leveling up, we’re not learning from our previous mistakes, we cannot make it there. We know it’s a process, a lot of teams are going through this kind of situations.”
Mr. Vanguardia believes Phoenix is undergoing through a process, one which the franchise needs to experience before finally reaching its ambitious goal. He has experienced it with his previous team, Talk ‘N Text, now one of the most successful squads in the PBA.
“In all honesty, Phoenix has been very supportive. When we were in Talk ’N Text in year 2000, we were just looking at San Miguel and Coca-Cola, then. That’s the same feeling I’m experiencing right now. But when we drafted Jimmy Alapag, Harvey Carey, it changed the fortunes of the franchise. Look at what Talk ’N Text is now,” said Mr. Vanguardia.
“With Phoenix, it’s similar. Team owner Dennis Uy throws in his full support just like MVP (Manuel V. Pangilinan). But we still need to get over the hump and make it to the semis.”