Trillo wants Aces to focus on playing, not calls

MANILA, Philippines – Despite the Alaska Aces’ rousing performance in Game 1 of the PBA finals against the Barangay Ginebra Kings, coach Luigi Trillo reminded his players to stay focused on the game.

This means the Aces should leave the complaining to him.

“We did a good job focusing on the game especially in the first half. I told the players to focus on the game and I'll be the one talking to the referees,” said Trillo, pointing out hard fouls his players took from Ginebra.

“We took a lot of hard fouls especially on Calvin (Abueva) and even Rob (Dozier),” said Trillo, whose wards fashioned out an impressive 87-70 victory to move one win away from the championship.

The young Alaska mentor expects a better showing from Ginebra in Game 2.

“We did a good job on taking away their strengths. We controlled (Ginebra import) Vernon (Macklin). We can’t stop him but we played him well. We were also lucky that LA struggled early in the game,” said Trillo.

The physical aspect of the game was evident with various hard fouls committed by both teams. But Trillo believes the physicality works to their advantage.

“They have a run-and-gun identity while feeding off from the energy of the crowd while our identity is based on our defense and physical play,” said Trillo.

Game 2 is scheduled tomorrow at the Mall of Asia Arena.