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| Hong Kong Eastern head coach Mensur Bajramovic is not letting his guard down on Friday night even if Terrafirma is now 0-10 in the PBA Commissioner's Cup. PBA Images (file photo) |
MANILA--They may have the worst record right now in the PBA Commissioner's Cup, but Hong Kong Eastern coach Mensur Bajramovic cannot categorize Terrafirma as a bad team.
While much of the Dyip's losses were blowouts, Bajramovic also acknowledged that they had their chances in a good bunch of games only that could not close them out.
"I watched almost all of Terrafirma's games, and I know they were all close games. They didn't win till now," the Bosnian mentor said.
With Vic Manuel playing some vintage basketball right now and new key contributors emerging following the trade of Juami Tiongson and Drei Cahilig to San Miguel, Terrafirma looked poised to score some wins in the ongoing conference.
However, the Dyip fell to a 0-10 deficit and became the first team to be eliminated from playoff contention.
Despite that, Bajramovic insisted they are not as terrible as many would think.
"Everybody is fighting to win, and I believe Terrafirma is playing not bad basketball at all," he said.
Bajramovic's concern right now is keeping Eastern fresh.
The Long Lions only had a one-day rest from their Wednesday night EASL win against the Beermen and their PBA game against the Dyip.
"The second biggest worry for me is to play games which are two days in advance," Bajramovic said.
"To play in advance is also worrying because my players are going to be relaxed. That's my job now to shake them up to not approach the game like, 'We will win for sure 100 percent.'"
He further said, "We will try to keep our players focused each game and especially this one."
A win against Terrafirma at 5 p.m. Friday at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig will assure Eastern a place in the PBA Commissioner's Cup quarterfinals.
The main game at 7:30 p.m. features another game with huge quarterfinal implications: TNT against Ginebra.
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