MAHINDRA is the only winless team in the 2017 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup.
But Floodbuster Head Coach Chris Gavina was encouraged in their previous performance against defending champion San Miguel Beer—although his team lost that match, 91-94.
Mahindra hopes to end the drought as it faces Barangay Ginebra San Miguel in the main game on Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum right after the opening tussle between TNT Katropa and Phoenix.
Gavina wards played solidly against the Beermen, but they just didn’t have the finishing kick to stay in the cellar with a 0-4 win-loss record.
“I always thought that even though we started 0-4, it will just take time. It will take time for our guys to trust each another, believe in the system, and once they see that, it will work and that each of them can be really effective,” Gavina said.
“This [game against San Miguel] is definitely a big step forward. I told our guys that, I think, this is the beginning of our season. The fact that we showed that we can compete against the defending champions means that we can compete against anybody,” he added.
Filipino-Nigerian rookie Joseph Eriobu had his best game of his young career against the Beermen with a personal-best 17 points but an ill-advised three-pointer at a crucial stretch of the match proved to be costly for them.
Still, Mahindra was proud of what his team showed against the mighty San Miguel squad and they need that confidence against the Kings.
Ginebra is coming off an 84-91 loss to GlobalPort to absorb its second loss in three outings.
The Fuel Masters and Katropa, meanwhile, also try to get their winning ways back as they face off in the opener.
TNT Katropa and Phoenix are sporting identical 2-2 win-loss records and both are coming off losses. The Katropa yielded to sister team Meralco, 87-98, while the Fuel Masters absorbed a 79-123 humiliation at the hands of the Star.
