By REYNALD MAGALLON
NorthPort star Arvin Tolentino is looking for an answer as to what exactly hit the Batang Pier in their PBA Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup semifinals series against Barangay Ginebra.
After strong performance in the elimination that saw them finish at the top spot of the standings for the first time in franchise history as well as gutsy quarterfinals showing against Magnolia, the Batang Pier came crashing down to a 0-3 deficit against the Kings.
And Tolentino, like the rest of the team, was searching for answers as to how come that they suddenly struggled mightily and absorbed back-to-back-to-back blowouts in the semis.
“Until now, we’re still looking for an answer. Things are not clicking. Good thing we have one more chance. Siguro sa Wednesday. We’re new actually in the semifinals. But that’s not even an excuse,” said Tolentino after NorthPort’s 100-127 loss to Ginebra in Game 3.
Making the struggles all the more surprising is that NorthPort, coming into the series, had a two-week time for preparation while half of the Kings were busy with their national team duties.
“Actually, mataas yung kumpiyansa namin coming into this series. Kasi panalo kami sa kanila nung elims so may mental advantage kami sa kanila,” said Tolentino.
“Also two weeks of preparation. Hindi nga actually namin expect yung ganito,” he admitted.
But it’s also easy to pin the blame on the difference of experience.
“We all know naman ni Ginebra is a very experienced team. They have coach Tim Cone. They have five or six national team players and they’ve been together for a long time. Siguro, we beat them noong elimination but they were able to adjust it sa amin noong playoffs,” Tolentino explained.
Throughout history, only one team had managed to comeback from a 0-3 deficit in a series – something that San Miguel achieved back in 2015.
And for NorthPort, while it’s certainly hard to hold things together at this point, Tolentino said the team is trying to stay positive.
“We’re just really trying to be positive. (We actually overachieved this conference.
Staying really positive and sticking to each other, which is really a hard thing to do right now, being down 0-3,” said Tolentino
