Alaska braces for Ginebra's never-say-die fightback

MANILA, Philippines – With only one win away from earning his first ever title as a coach, Luigi Trillo warned the Aces to remain focus and not fall to complacency.

“It’s going to be hard to close them out. We can’t be complacent,” Trillo said.

The Aces are bracing for an emotional fightback from the Brgy. Ginebra San Miguel Kings.

“We’ve got to zone in. Bubugbugin kami, hahawakan man kami, kailangang kunin naming sa tiyaga.  We know when their backs are against the wall, they have nothing to lose. We can’t get ahead of ourselves. We need to not lose sight of the prize,” Trillo warned.  

True enough the Kings will go out with a “nothing-to-lose” attitude according to Mark Caguioa in a separate interview.

But Trillo remained confident because of his team got the advantage when it comes to bench depth and fresher legs.

“We just took care of business that’s why we’re fresher than them. Imagine if we didn’t close out San Mig Coffee, we would have played last Monday,” Trillo explained.

“We understand they are little bit fatigued and they have injuries over there. My thinking is if they are going to pressure and run using only 7-8 guys, what legs do they have,” Trillo asked the pack of reporters after winning Game 2.

Despite the obvious advantage that Alaska has over Ginebra, Trillo pointed to another key to the series why they are one win away from sweeping the series.

“I thought our defense played a big role again. We respected LA, Macklin, Kerby and Jayjay. Those guys are the reasons they’re here. I thought we did a good job on them. In Game 3, we need to give the same respect to them,” Trillo said.

It is the same respect that he and his Aces are earning this conference.

Heading into Game 3, the Aces have won 17 of their 21 games this conference and five straight in the playoffs since dropping the series opener to San Mig Coffee.