Austria pays tribute to Compton

MANILA, Philippines - San Miguel Beer coach Leo Austria yesterday paid high tribute to Alaska coach Alex Compton as a tough opponent and said while the PBA Philippine Cup Finals is fiercely fought with emotions spilling out on the floor, they remain friends off the court as the players from both teams.

When Austria was Welcoat head coach, Compton was his import and later assistant in his staff so they go back a long way. “I respect Alex very much,” said Austria. “:He’s a straight guy, follows rules to the letter. As a player, he was a superstar but from his work ethic in the gym or during a game, it was like he was a second or third stringer. He always sets a good example for the young players. He’s easy to get along with. I can’t say we’re close friends but we’re friendly to each other. I think we’re alike in the sense that we are very sincere and trusting of others who offer their friendship.”

Austria said from the onset, he knew the Finals would be a physical and emotional series. “It’s the Finals and we’re in the PBA so you expect the physicality,” he said. “In FIBA, they allow a lot of body banging, they just don’t tolerate contact over the head and extra use of hands and feet. Game 2 was extremely physical because Alaska wanted to go up 2-0 and we didn’t want to let them. We had to win. What’s good about this series is we all know each other. Ronald (Tubid) and Cyrus (Baguio) are close friends. Tony de la Cruz and Sonny Thoss are nice guys, they’ll never provoke. Chris (Banchero) was my player at San Miguel when we won the ABL title. Nobody takes the physicality personal. Off the court, we’re all friends.”

Alaska’s Calvin Abueva, however, drew special attention from Austria. “Calvin is our headache,” he said. “He’s hard to stop He’s all over the place, he’s always on the attack. He scores, rebounds, assists, plays defense. I think it’s in his nature to be very competitive and aggressive. His motor is different. Playing with passion is like a habit for him. We’ve just got to show him resistance. Arwind (Santos) and Calvin are friends, they’re both from Pampanga. But on the court, you can see they’re competing. They want to show who between them is the King of Pampanga.”

Austria said before the season began, he had a long talk with Santos. “I challenged him to show his leadership,” he said. “The players look up to Arwind. We want him to lead by example. We want him to be consistent. He told the guys let’s be tough, let’s not be intimidated by the physicality. And he is showing his toughness. Imagine, he’s been cut on the forehead and eyelid and he’s still playing harder than ever. Like he mentioned, in Pampanga, they would shed blood in a physical game for P25. What more in the PBA Finals?”

Austria said before Game 4 last Wednesday, he was encouraged by management and friends. “Of course, I felt the pressure because we didn’t want to go down 1-3 in the series,” he said. “I know how hard it is to come back from 1-3, it’s like rising from the grave. I should know. In 1991, I was playing for Shell when Ginebra came back from 1-3 to win the championship in the First Conference. So many friends showed their support like my neighbor Dr. Tony Leachon, a cardiologist who’s a basketball fanatic, and my townmates from Sariaya. During a viewing session with the players, Sir Robert (Non) and coach Al (Chua) came over to show support from management, to tell us management is behind us all the way.”

Austria said he also found time to retrospect. “I read Jon Gordon’s book ‘The Energy Bus----10 Rules To Fuel Your Life, Work and Team With Positive Energy’ and other books of inspiration in times of crisis,” he said. “My job as a coach is also to motivate. I didn’t want the players to lose hope. We were down 1-2 but not out of it. We realized that going down 1-3 would be devastating. I wanted to show the players I’m the coach, I know what I’m doing. Luckily, we had two days to prepare for Game 4. Basketball is a game of adjustments.”

Austria said since it’s his first conference at the San Miguel helm, he’s still in the process of installing his system. “It takes time to put your system in place,” he said. “My system is versatile. I believe that when you go to war, you should be prepared. We didn’t have too much time to practice as a complete team. JuneMar (Fajardo) was coming from Gilas and we had players who were sick or injured. But slowly, we put things together. My philosophy is to play to our strengths. If we’re strong at the post, we go to our bigs. If we’re quicker than our opponent, we run. We always play to our advantage. We read what the other team is doing and we counter. It’s a chess match. I learned a lot from our two losses in the Finals.”