MAGNOLIA and NLEX are expected to turn more physical and aggressive—and hungrier—as their semifinal duel dwindled to a best-of-five affair.
The Hotshots played their hearts out in the absence of injured veteran Marc Pingris and leveled their Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup semifinal series with a 99-84 win over the Road Warriors in Game Two on Monday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The result was far from the nip-and-tuck affair in the series-opener which NLEX won by a hair, 88-87.
As Game Two heroes Paul Lee and Ian Sangalang prepared themselves for Game Three that fires off at 7 p.m., Magnolia Head Coach Chito Victolero conditioned his players to bring the momentum going into the match.
“We just tied the series. We need to sustain the effort—in terms of energy, aggressiveness and execution,” Victolero said.
After a subpar eight-point showing in the first game, Lee came out firing from all cylinders with a game-high 27 points that went with four rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Playing with much responsibility without Pingris, who will be out for the rest of the season after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury, Sangalang lived up to expectations and finished with 18 points and eight boards.
Victolero noted that it was their lockdown defense on their opponents’ backcourt players that proved to be the key in their 15-point win.
“We adjusted a little bit in our defense, especially on their guards,” he said.
Kiefer Ravena was held to only nine points, while Cyrus Baguio could only add four points. The duo combined for 33 points in Game One.
“I think we just need to focus more on our strength, which is our defense. We need to sustain it,” Victolero added.