MANILA, Philippines - There’s heavy pressure on defending champion Manila West when the Manila Masters leg of the 2015 FIBA 3x3 World Tour is played today and tomorrow at Robinsons Ermita.
Two other squads will represent the Philippines, including Manila North of Calvin Abueva, Vic Manuel, Troy Rosario and Karl Dehesa, and Manila South of Lucky Ecarma, Jair Igna, Carlo Ortega and Joshua Sinclair.
But the presence of last year’s World Tour champion NoviSad of Serbia (now called NoviSad AlWahda) and 2013 king Brezovica (now named Ljubljana) only means that Filipinos will need more than luck to pull it off once more.
“Yung NoviSad talaga ang malakas (NoviSad is the tough one),” said Romeo, a streak shooter who will be wearing a bullseye on his back.
When the first whistle is blown, the Filipinos can only rely on a couple of things: their quickness and the huge support of the hometown crowd.
“Sana lang malampasan namin yung performance namin last year,” said the 22-year-old Romeo, winner of the Most Improved Award in the just-concluded PBA season.
The Filipinos, except for the Manila South team, the 18-under champion from that part of the country, did not have the luxury of time to practice.
In fact, head coach Eric Altamirano only had a handful of days with the players from Manila West and Manila North.
But the seasoned coach said anything is possible.
“We’re ready. We are prepared,” said the former PBA coach on the eve of the Manila Masters leg that rewards the top two teams slots to this year’s World Tour.
Altamirano admitted that the presence of the two former champions will make things doubly hard for any of the three Philippine squads to make it to tomorrow’s finals.
“Definitely this is a tougher field than the last time,” said Altamirano, who will rely on the quickness of his players.
Romeo. who led the team past the heavily favored Doha in last year’s finals in Manila, is also counting on their outside shots to fall and open up the defense of their seasoned competitors.
“Mas competitive talaga ngayon (It’s more competitive this time). Sana mag-click ang outside shots namin,” he said.
A dozen teams will vie in the Manila Masters and a dozen pool matches will be played today heading to tomorrow’s quarterfinals, semis and finals.
Manila West, the fourth seed, will try to break the ice against No. 5 Auckland at 3:20 p.m. while No. 10 Manila North plays No. 7 Beirut at 4:10 p.m.
Manila South, seeded 12th, also plays Auckland at 4:50 p.m. before Manila North battles No. 2 Ljubljana at 5:40 p.m. Manila South and Manila West test each other at 6:40 p.m.