Bo Perasol

FOR coach Bo Perasol, his Coca-Cola team’s campaign in the import-flavored PBA Fiesta Cup that starts on March 21 hinges a lot on his players translating into action what they’ve learned in practice.

"We’ve had enough time na magkasama-sama kaya hindi na excuse sa akin ang adjustment isa’t-isa sa ngayon," said Perasol in a phone interview. "Kung paano ang execution nila ng mga plano namin, iyon ang question du’n."

After finishing seventh in the Philippine Cup the Tigers took a short break and plunged back into practice to enable new players Gary David and Chico Lanete, as well as assistant coach Alex Compton, to learn their system.

Priority among their plans, Perasol added, is to not rely heavily on skipper Asi Taulava and Dennis Espino for the points.

"Aminin natin na hindi na sila bumabata, kaya the others must take some scoring load off their shoulders," he said.

One good news is reliable import James Penny has come in early, unlike last year when he took a long time coming over due to a previous commitment in the Mexican league. Fill-in import JJ Sullinger could not provide the expected boost and Coke started with a 1-4 win-loss before eventually winding up eighth.

Perasol is lining up bigger things from the usually defensive-minded Oklahoman, who averaged 2.1 blocks and 1.5 steals, aside from 26.1 points, 12.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 11 games last year.

"Ang maganda kay James defensive stabilizer siya. Kahit hindi siya umi-score that much, babawian ka niya sa depensa," Perasol noted. "Pero this year, we are asking him to score more."

Should Penny and his teammates fully absorb their new roles, Perasol is optimistic things will be far different in the season-ending tourney in terms of their finishes from last year and in the Philippine Cup.

"Umo-OK na ang team, dahan-dahang umaayos na naman, kaya I like our chances," he stated. "I believe we can make it outright to the quarterfinals man lang. Kahit saan, basta huwag lang wildcard."

In the recent Philippine Cup, Coke rebounded from a sorry start to make a big run in the second round of the eliminations. Sadly, the Tigers got waylaid by another late-bloomer in Rain or Shine in the knockout wildcard.

"Iyon ang malungkot doon. Kahit ilang ganda ng laro mo, isang beses lang na sumama tanggal ka pa rin," he said.

"Kaya we have to learn from that and we must start and end the conference well for us not to be in the same unforgiving position."

Source: NOLI CORTEZ, Business Insight Malaya

Good news for the team, actually before this season start Coke and Dark Horse team ko sa PBA when they acquire Espino, LArry Rodriguez Lanete & rookie Chris Ross. Siguradng lalakas ang team na ito familiarization na lng with each other ang kulang.

With the arrival of James Penny as their import expect this team to be a tough team to beat. Good Luck!!