PBA: Guiao says Elasto Painters lacked sense of urgency in loss to Ginebra

MANILA — Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao acknowledged his wards’ “lack of sense of urgency” in their loss to Ginebra on Friday.

With the Gin Kings firing from all cylinders, the Elasto Painters had no answers, absorbing a 129-111 loss to resume their PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup campaign at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

He knew that the battle was lost already in the first quarter.

“They [Ginebra] just shot the ball too well. Masyado maganda ‘yung three-point shooting, pati four-point shooting nila. We started out badly. We lost the game in the first quarter. Dun pa lang talagang downhill na ‘yung trajectory namin. I don’t know if it’s the long break,” said Guiao.

“Mahabang break pero at least it’s a wake up call. ‘Yung mahabang break, medyo makakatulog ka talaga nang masyadong mahaba, sa break na ‘yun. We did not feel the sense of urgency,” he also said.

Guiao said this loss might be on the mental side, not preparing enough during the break as they also saw their four-game winning run halted in the process.

“We’re coming off a four-win streak. Ito ‘yung sabi ko, ‘I was a little worried about before the game na ano kaya ang condition namin. Did we do enough in the break to keep ourselves in good shape or at least in the proper frame of mind?'” he said.

“Tingin ko kasi medyo mental din ‘to. So we fell into that mental trap. We started out badly and we couldn’t recover from there,” said Guiao.

The Elasto Painters are now eyeing to win two of their next three matches to keep their Governors’ Cup run afloat.

“Ang tingin ko naman, we still have three games. I think we need to win at least two of the three games to make the next round. I think that’s really what’s important.”