Things looking up for Red Bull

Yeng Guiao acknowledges the fact that when San Miguel won the All-Filipino Cup, he got his Red Bull Thunder gaining a measure of confidence in a way he never really worked for.

For after all, his Thunder did push the Beermen to the limit.

"Malaking bagay for a young team like us to be able to know that we played well against a championship caliber team, or a champion team for that matter," Guiao said in a telephone interview just after practice yesterday.

"It definitely gives our confidence a boost, knowing that we slugged it out against a class team like San Miguel."

Red Bull pushed San Miguel hard, truly hard, in the quarterfinals of the All-Filipino, sending their series into a deciding game and making the Beermen dig deep in their arsenal just to be able to advance.

And with the strength of that performance alone, and with Antonio Lang added to the roster for the Commissioner’s Cup, Guiao indeed, has reason to hope for better things to come.

"All we are looking for is to stay healthy at this stage, and by staying healthy, I think we have a fair chance of at least making the top four after the eliminations," Guiao explained. "If it is any consolation to us, we played the last tournament through with two starters injured."

With Lang added to the roster, and with Mick Pennisi and Jimwell Torion healthy, Guiao feels he has the tools to go all the way this time and sustain the expectations and the hype surrounding this team, which is one of the tallest and heftiest in the league.

Lang is a legitimate National Basketball Association veteran, having seen action for at least four teams, and he is an import coming over who has a solid collegiate background.

Listed at 6-foot-8, Lang played for Duke and was an outstanding Blue Devil, shooting close to 13 points a night in his senior despite having Grant Hill as a teammate. He was drafted by Phoenix and saw action for the Suns in the 1994 season. He also played for Cleveland, Miami, Toronto and Philadelphia.

"He is okay," Guiao said of Lang. "The only problem that he has at the moment is that he is having a hard time adjusting to the climate. He gets drained of his energy because of the heat, kahit in battle shape siya ngayon."

"Antonio is a leader in a quiet way," Guiao said. "His father and mother are both teachers, so you more or less have an idea of how he handles himself and gets his character across the rest of the team."

Incidentally, Guiao and the Thunder get the ball rolling in the Commissioner’s Cup, as they clash with Alaska on Saturday in the very first PBA game to be played in Bataan, the Peoples Center in Balanga town being the venue of it.

The hulking Thunder have just gotten even bigger with Lang in the roster, and Guiao has the luxury of playing his import in the No. 3 spot with the presence of Pennisi, Davon Harp and Kerby Raymundo.

"Like I said, we want to make sure that we all stay healthy. I don’t want to think beyond the eliminations at this point. Not that I don’t want to get past there, bur rather, just have a high goal for the team."