Coke: Mission Accomplished

The Coca-Cola Tigers came, saw, conquered and made history.

The Tigers wrote a new chapter in Philippine Basketball Association history as they became the first team to win a championship in their first season in the league by stunning the Alaska Milk Aces in their Selecta PBA All-Filipino Cup title playoff.

They completed the trick right on Christmas Day before a huge crowd at the Araneta Coliseum but 24 hours after that fateful day, the engineer of the stirring championship continued to harp on one thing — a sacred vow which he said compelled his team to go flat-out to win the crown.

"From day one, pinasok na namin sa isip namin that we will go for the record. Wala namang bayad na mag-set ng goal, so iyun ang naging goal namin and that became our compelling reason to win this championship," said coach Chot Reyes, his voice hoarse after a whole night of victory celebration, first with the team and their supporters at Stella Maris Restaurant in Greenhills then a private party with the team at Cable Car Bar in Makati.

"Right in the first week of this year in our first practice, we agreed on a goal, on an objective. We said let’s agree on one thing, one compelling reason, a sacred vow. We wrote it on the board and it’s also written on paper that we wanted to be the first team in history to win a championship in its first year in the league. We never told that to anyone. We said let’s talk about it now, let’s commit to it, then let’s forget about it and not tell anyone," bared Reyes moments after achieving their goal Wednesday night.

"That’s in the back of our mind every single day. Then the practice before our first game against Red Bull (in the All-Filipino Conference), we revisited that goal. We wrote it again on the board to remind everyone this is our goal. This is what we wanted to achieve," he added.

With the goal set, Reyes said the team then made two "commitment and teamwork" as their battle cry throughout the year. He noted that the initials of commitment and teamwork also stand for "Coca-Cola Tigers."

More than the courage and character, Reyes thought their commitment to play as one cohesive team became the biggest factor as they claimed the victory that could also go down in history as the biggest reversal ever.

The Tigers pulled the rug from under the Aces while playing the whole series with Jeffrey Cariaso, Chris Bolado and Estong Ballesteros sidelined by injuries. Johnny Abarrientos missed the last three games after suffering three fractures on his right cheekbone in a freak accident in the first half of Game One.

To many, Coca-Cola’s win is bigger than Presto Ice Cream’s upset of Purefoods in the 1990 All-Filipino Finals. Then ace Ice Cream Maker Allan Caidic, averaging 32.7 points in the conference, sat out the deciding Game Seven also because of an injury.

With his players falling like flies in the playoffs, Reyes had thought their vow would vanish into thin air.

But the Tigers refused to quit and instead plodded on and plodded on to hand Reyes his third championship.

"The first is always special but this is as big because I think this is the most unexpected, the most underdog-like victory," said Reyes of his first title since guiding Purefoods to the championships in the 1993 All-Filipino Cup and the 1994 Commissioner’s Cup. Incidentally, Reyes’ last title also came at the expense of Alaska.

What’s next for the Tigers with their initial goal achieved?

"Of course, nothing else but to get better," said the articulate Coca-Cola mentor.

"Next goal is to defend the title. The long term goal is to keep the team growing, get it better and continue the kind of evolution we wanted to take place in Philippine basketball which is a lot of ball movement, passing, shooting from the outside, trapping and full-court pressure. You would notice wala kaming low-post or isolation (plays) because that’s passé already. The new way of basketball – the way Argentina does it, the way Korea does it, the way Europe does it — is really based on outside shooting, passing and quickness. That’s what we want to continue," he added.

He doesn’t see big changes in his lineup next campaign. And though without a contract, he’s not entertaining thoughts of leaving the team, saying: "I’m happy with this management. They allowed me to do a lot of things on my own and on the way I wanted it to be done so."

"We have met the top management and they said we just present our program and they’ll approve it," he added.

Actually, the program that bore fruit for Coca-Cola was the same one designed by Reyes for the defunct Pop Cola team.

"It was a three-year program geared towards winning the championship on the third and final year which is now. We really overhauled the Pop Cola team at hindi naman makukuha ang produkto nito overnight," he said.

Reyes got Cariaso and Rudy Hatfield from Tanduay, Poch Juinio and Johnny Abarrientos from Alaska Milk, Freddie Abuda from San Miguel Beer and Rafi Reavies, Ato Morano, Leo Avenido and Jojo Manalo from the annual draft.

These players now form the core of the All-Filipino champion team – a team which may reign supreme again in the league.