NLEX will have a brief reprieve despite their early PBA Commissioner’s Cup loss. 

According to Jong Uichico, the Road Warriors will start training again in a week and get ready for the Philippine Cup, which ends in late March.
The marching orders were given just hours after the team’s Commissioner’s Cup campaign came to an end after losing to Magnolia 112-81 in their matchup for the final quarterfinal spot.

The NLEX coach thinks that if the Road Warriors had dominated the early stages of the eliminations, it wouldn’t have come down to a game against the Hotshots that was decided by a single game.

However, they had a run of five straight losses that offset their quick 3-1 start.

The Road Warriors lost close games against Magnolia (99-95 in OT) and TNT (94-87) during that streak.

Coach Uichico said, “If we took care of business, just two games. Dalawang laro lang naman, one or two games, hindi mangyayari ito,”. “But that’s part of the journey or whatever it is. I think for this conference, we could have done better. Unfortunately, things really happen.”

Uichico observed encouraging signals for the club, even though they didn’t make it to the playoffs. The Road Warriors intend to build on these as they prepare to compete in the all-Filipino conference.

The club will still be together by the upcoming conference, according to the 65-year-old veteran coach, and any adjustments should be implemented soon following Season 49.

“Yeah maybe (off season na). We’ll evaluate, assess, and then see kung saan kami puwedeng mag-improve pa and hopefully things will fall into place,” the Coach added.

Meanwhile, if all goes according to plan, the PBA Commissioner’s Cup will have a surprise gift in the form of a Manila Clasico in the next playoffs.

This will occur if Barangay Ginebra, seeded fourth, and Magnolia, seeded eighth, win their best-of-three series in the quarterfinals. The Gin Kings play fifth seed Meralco, while the Hotshsots play top-seeded NorthPort.

Magnolia and Ginebra will face each other in a best-of-seven semifinal if they advance, as the playoff structure requires the winners of the 1 vs. 8 and 4 vs. 5 matches to face each other at the conclusion of the quarterfinal round.

Last Christmas, Barangay Ginebra defeated Magnolia, who were behind by as much as 22 points, 95-92, thanks to a game-winning three from Scottie Thompson. This was the first meeting of the season between the two clubs.

Naturally, Meralco and NorthPort might have an opinion on it.

With a 9-3 win-loss record, the Batang Pier have been playing well this conference and are ranked first in the elimination stage.

It should be mentioned that San Miguel Corporation teams contributed to three of NorthPort’s nine victories.

The Gin Kings defeated the No. 5 Bolts 91-87 last Wednesday in the elimination round, but the game was primarily played by second and third-stringers since the clubs were already resting players in anticipation of the playoff run. 

After losing to the 49th Season Governors’ Cup quarterfinals last conference, Meralco is hoping to recover.

On Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., Meralco will play Barangay Ginebra in Game One of the best-of-three quarterfinals in an attempt to begin its redemption tour. at the Coliseum Smart-Araneta.

At 5 p.m. on Thursday, NorthPort will attempt to remove Magnolia in the interim. throughout Ninoy Aquino Stadium.