No looking back for Alaska

MANILA, Philippines - Alaska coach Alex Compton said yesterday the Aces never watched the video of their crushing 51-point loss to Rain Or Shine in the PBA Governors Cup eliminations, preferring to just bury the past and commit to bouncing back after hitting rock bottom.

Somehow, Alaska survived the test of character and has now won five in a row since the 123-72 setback.  Tonight, the Aces gun for a 2-0 advantage in their best-of-five semifinal series against the Elasto Painters at the Smart Araneta Coliseum with import Henry Walker leading the charge.

“They’ve proved themselves,” said Compton.  â€œIt’s not me.  We’ve got a talented team. Before we lost to Rain Or Shine, I thought I fired up the guys with my talk in the lockerroom.  Even (team manager) Dickie (Bachmann) and (assistant coach) Topex (Robinson) were so fired up, they wanted to play.  But we lost miserably.  For our next game against San Mig Coffee, I didn’t say much in the dugout.  I wrote ‘Who Are You?’ in our whiteboard and challenged the guys to show up.  They went out there and beat a championship team.  So it’s not me, maybe I’m better off being mundane.  We never watched video of our loss.  What for?  We did everything wrong.  We practically gave the ball to Rain Or Shine on every possession.”

Losing by a mile wasn’t new to Compton.  Playing for Cornell University, he had a taste of big-time spanking when Kansas walloped the Big Red, 100-46, in the 1995-96 NCAA Division I season behind future NBA players Paul Pierce, Raef LaFrentz, Scott Pollard, Jacque Vaughn and Billy Thomas.  â€œI was Cornell captain so that gives you an idea of how competitive our team was,” he chuckled.

Walker is no stranger to blowout losses, too.  â€œWhen I was with New York before A’mare (Stoudemire) joined up, we lost to LeBron (James) and the Cleveland Cavaliers by a huge margin,” he said.  The Cavs trounced the Knicks, 124-93, with James scoring 22 points and Walker 21 during the 2009-10 NBA season.  But New York stormed back to beat Detroit, 128-104, in the next game.  Walker said the defeat to Rain Or Shine was a wake-up call just like that Knicks defeat.

Compton said the Aces’ turnaround was triggered by the conviction to play defense.  In the five-game winning streak, Alaska has held opponents to an average of 82.2 points. “That’s strange, because I hardly played defense during my time,” he laughed.   â€œWe’re lucky Henry’s our import.  I think he’s the most talented import in the conference.  He does so much for us.  He can play point.  He can post up.  He can play multiple positions.  He’s such an explosive scorer and a lock-down defender with his long arms.  He’s got good hands.  And he reads the game very well.”

Walker said he’s not out to put up big numbers across his name every game.  â€œMy thing is winning,” he said.  â€œI just do what I need to do to win.  Actually, it’s a learning experience for me in the PBA which I consider to be a great league.  The contact they allow here, I’m not sure if they’ll allow in the US.  But I can understand why.  It’s a physical game and because I’m stronger than most guys, I’m supposed to be able to take the hit.  That’s fine.  In the preseason, it was crazy.  In one game, I got held and someone took a swing at me.  I know that’s not going to happen again.  But I’ll defend myself if I have to.”

Walker said as a boy trying to play basketball, he wasn’t a natural.  â€œI learned the game from O. J. Mayo’s grandfather Duane Barnes,” he said.  â€œO. J. and I were high school teammates.  O. J. played point guard and was very skilled while I was the brute, playing defense and getting rebounds.  Coach (Barnes) taught me how to dissect the game, to know what to do on the court.  To this day, O. J. and I are close friends.  Just last week, we talked on the phone.  He told me about his NBA season and I told him how pretty the Filipina girls are.  I’m not homesick at all.  I’m a mover. I can’t sit around at home.  But I do miss my three-year-old daughter who’s now staying with my mom in West Virginia.  I played a bit in Venezuela but this is my first real overseas experience playing in a whole tournament.  I’m enjoying the Philippines.  I go out to watch movies in Greenbelt.  I hang out with my teammates.  From my experience in the PBA, I’ll be ready to go to NBA camp in Orlando then maybe get an invite to play in the summer league in Las Vegas.”

   Walker played four years with Boston and New York in the NBA.  In one game with the Knicks, he dropped 23 points in 25 minutes against the Dallas Mavericks.  A teammate was former PBA import Renaldo Balkman who’ll play for Puerto Rico against the Philippines at the coming FIBA World Cup in Spain.  â€œYeah, I know Balkman,” said Walker.  â€œThe key to playing him is to match his energy.  He’s all over the floor, a tremendous slasher and scorer.  I saw the video in the Internet showing what happened in his last PBA game.”   Walker is hoping to make an NBA comeback.

“I like Alaska,” said Walker.  â€œWe play as a team.  The triangle offense is new to me but I’m learning it.  We’ve got really talented guys.  I think Calvin (Abueva) and Raphie (Reyes) are the future of our team. We’ve also got the Big Boss (Sonny Thoss).  When he’s playing well, we win.”