Ryan not counting on destiny

Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio said yesterday it’s like destiny calling for the Chunkee Giants to win the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) All-Filipino crown but he’s not banking on anything except hard work and preparation to beat Red Bull in the best-of-7 title playoffs starting today at the Araneta Coliseum.

"There’s a job to be done," said Gregorio. "We overcame overwhelming odds to get to the Finals. We’re not satisfied with just being in the Finals. We want to go all the way and it’s not going to happen because of destiny. It’s going to happen because we’ll make it happen."

Gregorio said Purefoods’ resiliency is what it will take to beat Red Bull. But Barako coach Yeng Guiao said his team is ready to claim its second championship in a row after hurdling Barangay Ginebra in the quarterfinals and San Miguel Beer in the semifinals.

"We’re used to adversity," said Guiao, gunning for his sixth overall title, fourth for Red Bull. "We’re survivors. The crowd was against us in the Ginebra and San Miguel series. But I just told the boys there are 10 players on the court who will decide the outcome of a game and it’s up to them to do it."

Guiao said the Red Bull mentality of surrendering one’s pride for the team’s best interest, playing one’s guts out and being ready to perform one’s role to the hilt is the Barakos’ formula for success.

Guiao’s knack of constantly changing his starting unit is his patented stroke of genius because it keeps the opposing team guessing. Unpredictability is Guiao’s trump card. Another advantage is Red Bull’s deep bench which is 11 strong.

Guiao said he never expected Red Bull to develop into a championship contender so soon. "With our young nucleus, I think we’re good for three to four more years," he said. "When Mick (Pennisi) and Vonn (Harp) left, Rico (Villanueva) was forced to play a lot of minutes in the middle and his game improved tremendously. That was the start of our ascent. With Rico taking care of the inside and Lordy (Tugade) taking care of the outside, we had our two anchors then our in-between players like Junthy (Valenzuela) and Cyrus (Baguio) took care of the rest. In our team, anyone can start and we use our bench to generate energy on the floor."

Rich Alvarez fractured his right hand in Game 3 of the San Miguel series and will not play in the Finals but Guiao’s rotation, which now includes Mike Hrabak, shouldn’t be hampered.

Guiao said his concerns are Purefoods’ perimeter game, defensive intensity and rebounding. He singled out Kerby Raymundo as Red Bull’s biggest match-up problem because "he’s big with quickness and an outside shot."

Gregorio said he’s not worried about Red Bull’s bench.

"We won’t tinker with our rotation," he said. "We play about nine men and we’re sure they’ll be ready whenever they’re called in. The bench is very important but it’s difficult to measure Red Bull’s bench strength because coach Yeng has no regular starters. In our case, we’ve lost starters in Jondan (Salvador) and Eugene (Tejada) but Jun (Limpot) gave us a big lift in the Alaska series and Noy (Castillo) has really stepped up at point guard. Noy didn’t score in the first three games against Alaska and played only four minutes in Game 3. But he shot 14 in Game 4, 13 in Game 6 and 16 in Game 7."

Gregorio said he learned a lot from the experience of playing Red Bull in the previous Fiesta Conference Finals where the Barakos won in six. "It’s not just about showing up for the games," said Gregorio. "We probably were just happy to be in the championship playoffs and we had excuses like we’re a young team and James (Yap) and Marc (Pingris) were playing in their first Finals. But this time, no more excuses. We’re more equipped mentally. We know what it’s like playing in the Finals and we’re prepared to win."

Gregorio said Purefoods’ challenge is to stop Red Bull’s transition attack and slow down the tempo of the game.

"They’ve got good rebounders in Mick and Rico," said Gregorio. "They like to pressure and score easy baskets off turnovers. They’ll try to force us into making mistakes. We’ll just have to take good care of the ball, go for the high percentage shots and play our kind of game which is drag and set up."

Gregorio said although Purefoods is the league’s No. 1 defensive team, the Chunkee Giants can score, too.

"We don’t want to be just a good defensive team," said Gregorio. "We proved it in the Alaska series when we scored 99 in Game 6 and at least 90 in two other wins. Against Red Bull, our outside shooting has to click because they’ll force us to play in the perimeter with their help side defense. We’ve got to be sharp from the three-point range. It’ll be a physical series so we can’t afford to lose our focus and we’ve got to play our tempo."

Gregorio said the Red Bull player to watch is Tugade.

Both coaches agreed it will be an emotional and grueling Finals. Guiao said the longer it takes to wrap up the crown, the better are Red Bull’s chances because of its deep rotation. Gregorio said Purefoods has proved its ability to deliver under pressure when the Chunkee Giants stormed back from 0-2 and 1-3 to finish off Alaska in Game 7 of their semifinal series.