MANILA, Philippines -- With a quarterfinal berth almost secured, Joshua Munzon and the rest of the NorthPort Batang Pier are taking it one game at a time as they remained atop the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
NorthPort weathered a furious storm by Barangay Ginebra on Wednesday, 119-116, winning their second straight game to improve to 7-1 in the import-laden conference with four elimination round games remaining.
The Batang Pier led by as much as 18 points in the contest before the Gin Kings rallied and took the lead.
But thanks to Munzon and some late miscues by Justin Brownlee, NorthPort was able to get away with the win.
After the game, Munzon said that the team is “just taking it day by day, game by game.”
“We don't want to look too far ahead. Like I said, we just want to focus on our next game and then go from there. I know our next game is back-to-back, which is at January 14 and 16,” he told reporters.
“I know that's going to be a tough back-to-back for us. We just want to focus on the first game. We don't look too far ahead. We're just going to go game by game. That's pretty much it,” he added.
NorthPort will be taking on a dangerous Meralco side and second-placer Rain or Shine Elasto next Tuesday and Thursday, respectively.
The Batang Pier will then face defending champion San Miguel on the January 21 before finishing their elimination round against the Blackwater Bossing on January 25.
“We can't focus on three games or two games ahead. We just focus on the game ahead of us. That was what we wanted to do going into the [holiday] break,” said Munzon.
“We knew that we were going to play a tough team in Ginebra tonight. One of the better teams in the league. We've been preparing for it pretty much the whole break. I think all the hard work we did paid off tonight. We were able to stick to the game plan. We made it happen,” he added.
Munzon also stressed that the wild endgame against Ginebra gave them a huge confidence boost to close off crucial games in the future.
“That was big. I think it just showed a level of maturity that we've grown over these eight games. Being able to close out games when it's tight and sticking together, getting stops when we need them, and playing in the crunchtime like that,” he said.
“When the game gets going back and forth like that, it's pretty fun to be out there. That's what we love to do, play basketball at the end of the day. That's what it is, for sure.”