Racela lauds TNT for "dictating the tempo right away" vs Columbian

Harvey Carey felt TNT's blazing start that he could not even miss a single field goal. PBA Media Bureau

By Ivan Saldajeno

PASAY--Coach Nash Racela is aware that this is not the Columbian team that we know before.

In their three wins so far in the PBA Commissioner's Cup, the Dyip banked on an impressive start which served as their fuel for the long run.

That is why the TNT mentor wanted his team to get things going quickly.

"We know going to this game that Columbian Dyip is definitely a better team now. If we based it on their previous games, if they start strong, most likely they win by a very big margin, but the times that they lost, they lost big also because they weren't able to start well," Racela said.  "So we need to, from the initial tip, be able to match whatever they try to throw at us."

That was exactly what the KaTropa did on Friday night at the Mall of Asia Arena, blasting the Dyip early on en route to a 123-95 rout.

[Related Story: TNT blasts Columbian, 123-95]

"I think we were really successful. From the first quarter, we're able to dictate the tempo of the game right away. I think it really helped us down the road when we just continued to manage the rest of the game," continued Racela, whose team limited Columbian to just 34.8 percent shooting while draining 54.4 percent of its own field goals.

The most glaring stat, however, is that of Rashawn McCarthy.

McCarthy, who has been the Dyip's spark plug, was held to 1-of-15 from the field for five points, and John Fields was virtually by his lonesome in carrying the team.

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