Victolero says staying positive is key
Magnolia head coach Chito Victolero said it won’t be easy toppling San Miguel Beer from the throne but despite the odds, the challenge is to stay positive and turn the PBA Philippine Cup best-of-7 Finals into a long grind for the chance to wear out the defending champions.
Victolero, 42, is in his first PBA Finals as a head coach. Compared to San Miguel coach Leo Austria who’s never lost in five trips to the Finals, he’s a novice. But Victolero said the pain of failing to advance to the Last Dance after three semifinal appearances last season is motivation to get the job done this conference.
“I’m happy that we’re in the Finals and finally, over the hump,” he said. “We learned a lot as a team last year. I told my players it’s a process to get to the Finals and win a championship. You need to experience a lot of pain and tears in order for us to achieve our goals. I told them not all teams are blessed to reach the semis in every conference in our first year as a group. All we need is patience in the process. That’s why I’m very happy that now, we have a chance to win a championship and hopefully, we get it.”
Victolero said battling San Miguel without Marc Pingris, who suffered an ACL tear in Game 1 of the semis against NLEX, is a handicap. Pingris started in Magnolia’s 77-76 loss to San Miguel in the eliminations last Feb. 4 and delivered five points and 14 rebounds in 35:04 minutes. That game was settled only in the last few seconds. Magnolia blew a 16-point lead and was ahead, 71-70, with 1:46 left. But Chico Lanete hit a triple, June-Mar Fajardo sank three free throws and Marcio Lassiter knocked down 1-of-2 foul shots to seal San Miguel’s cliffhanging win.
“Sayang nga lang wala si Ping,” said Victolero. “We were always talking about going to war in the Finals together. Sana nagawa namin this conference but as I told him, there will be more Finals in the future. We just need to stay positive and wait for his comeback. We’re undermanned and we’re the underdog but we’ll take it positively. It’s a challenge to us as a whole team.”
With San Miguel’s nucleus playing heavy minutes throughout the conference, Victolero said it will be to Magnolia’s advantage if the Finals turns out to be a long series. “Maybe, we can take advantage of the long minutes of their starters if we extend the series to at least a Game 6 or 7,” he said. “But they know how to play longer minutes. Hopefully, through our pressure defense, we can tire them out.”