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| ‘NO REGRETS’ |
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| Monday, 08 February 2010 18:42 |
 EVEN in one of his most disappointing moments, Talk ‘N Text big boss Manny V. Pangilinan remains a class figure. Above all else, he doesn’t resent the walkout – no matter how unpopular it was — he approved in Game 4 during the quarter-finals series against Ginebra. He doesn’t feel cheated, either, when the Kings put the Tropang Texters away in a do-or-die game last Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum. “No. No regrets,” said Pangilinan. “It was the right decision (walkout) under the circumstances.” The telecommunications tycoon was one of the very few who left the Big Dome late Sunday night, at least an hour after Ginebra completed a rare, astonishing comeback from 0-2 in the best-of-5 series witnessed by a season-high 21,422 roaring fans. He spent his time inside talking with coach Chot Reyes, evaluating everything. It was another chapter in franchise history that won’t be forgotten, a series loss marred by complaints over officiating, threats, psychological warfare and frustrations. In the end, when Ginebra finally wrote off Talk ‘N Text in the form of a 113-100 victory, the Texters became only the third team to blow a 2-0 lead in a best-of-5 series and thus wound up as another statistic of being a Philippine Cup champion that failed to repeat. The last time that that achievement was done was in 1984-85 by Great Taste. Pangilinan was gracious in defeat. “Ginebra played very well. They deserve to win,” said Pangilinan, also the chief of the country’s governing body in amateur basketball, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, and the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines. It will take days before Talk ‘N Text recovers from the collapse. But in the meantime, players and bench officials alike will have to go through something Pangilinan had always done for the improvement of the team. “We probably have to review the performance,” said Pangilinan. “What went wrong, what went right. We’ll see.” Asked whether a shake-up is imminent, he said: “We don’t know yet. It’s difficult to say.” There were a lot of apprehensions, really, whether the Texters would show up for Game 5 even though team manager Virgil Villavicencio had already said the day before that they would suit up and play. Yet there wasn’t a single figure belonging to the team present at the Araneta Coliseum until the players arrived as one with two minutes left before the opening game between Purefoods and Rain or Shine ends. The players came out already dressed up, carrying their bags and a white rose. They also had a small number 33 written on their jersey, symbolizing their support to Ranidel de Ocampo, who was suspended for Game 5 for the flagrant foul 2 he committed against Ronald Tubid, the one that sparked the team’s walkout with merely 11 minutes gone in the first quarter of Game 4. Whatever drive Talk ‘N Text had in that game wasn’t obvious the entire game. The Texters couldn’t stay abreast with the Kings despite the limited playing time given to injured superstars’ Jay-Jay Helterbrand and Mark Caguioa, and simply could not contain JC Intal and Willy Wilson in Game 5. Intal, a leading contender for the Most Improved Player for the season, eventually scored a career-high 28 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and committed no turnover, while Wilson exerted a true playoff performance with 14 points and 8 rebounds (5 offensive). As a result, it’s Ginebra that will now confront No. 1 seed Alaska in the best-of-7 semi-finals that start tomorrow, a far-fetched scenario when Talk ‘N Text built what looked like an insurmountable 2-0 lead in the quarter-finals. Purefoods, on the other hand, and sister-team San Miguel Beer square off in the other best-of-7 showdown, the first time that these two ball clubs will face each other in a series as sister teams. The Giants and the Beermen became sister companies in 2001. Games Tomorrow: (Araneta Coliseum) 5:00 p.m. – Ginebra vs. Alaska 7:30 p.m. – Purefoods vs. San Miguel Beer |