The banged-up Magnolia Hotshots are staying positive despite the misfortunes that hit them in Friday night's titanic encounter with the San Miguel Beermen.
The Hotshots saw their three-game streak snapped in an 89-90 loss, a result dampened further by the ankle injury sustained by import Romeo Travis and the face-first fall that left ace local Paul Lee dizzy and with one lost tooth.
"Breaks of the game. Both teams may chance sa dulo. We had the last shot (but missed). Kahit paano meron kaming chance (to win it), said coach Chito Victolero.
The Hotshots held a 10-point lead in the third quarter but blew it and found themselves playing catchup towards the finish.
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They still had the final offensive but Mark Barroca missed the potential game winner at the buzzer.
"From the start naman yan ang gusto namin, to stay close. Elite team yan, grandslam seeking team, ang maganda dun kahit paano na-control namin yung pace.
Medyo minalas lang, nawala import ko ng last four minutes, then yung top local player nawala rin. I'm proud of my players kasi lumaban sila even without Romeo and Paul, " said Victolero.
Travis sprained his ankle at the 4:44 mark of the fourth and couldn't come back to finish the game.
He left the MOA Arena on a wheelchair, though he stressed it was only to avoid punishing the foot with a long walk towards the parking lot.
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"It's hard to tell right now," Travis said before being wheeled out of the arena.
"It's a little swollen but we will find out more tomorrow (Saturday). The only reason I'm on a wheelchair is because it's a long walk from here to the garage and I don't want to walk that far until we find out more tomorrow (Saturday)."
"It hurts but we don't know how serious or not serious it is. I can't be concerned until I know what it is. Pain comes and goes so it can be very painful and not that bad. We just have to wait and see," he also said.
Travis commended his teammates for fighting on without him.
"It was a tough loss. We had our chances late. Couple of missed calls on both sides. The referees really influenced the game on both sides so it could have gone either way. We had our chances though after I went down. Maybe we had three or four good looks and we had some good stops."
He was equally proud of their defensive performance against the explosive Beermen.
"Our goal is to hold them to under 90. We did pretty well. I'm proud of the guys. They kept fighting even after I went down. It could have been easy to give up but they didn't. They kept fighting. I'm proud of my guys. It's going to be a good conference for us," he said.
Lee followed Travis to the bench not long after, forced out at the 2:53 mark when he fell hard and slammed his face on the floor, losing a tooth in the process. The Magnolia hotshot though managed to check back in the last six seconds for the team's last offensive.
"OK lang, part of the game," said Lee, wearing a mask as he faced media after the match.
"Tumama yung mukha ko kaagad. Yun lang ang naramdaman ko. Yung ngipin talaga yung tumama, 'Yun pa rin yung dating natatamaan. Dentist lang ulit tapos balik na sa dati.
It was the same tooth that Lee lost when he got an elbow from TNT import Ivan Johnson in Game 3 of the 2015 Commissioner's Cup finals.
"Medyo dizzy lang nung una. Mabuti naman naka-recover nung medyo nakapag-pahinga ng kaunti," said Lee.
The World Cup campaigner expressed belief this is just a temporary setback for the defending champions.
"Napag-usapan namin na hindi naman made-determine 'yung championship run with just one game. So mahaba pa 'yung conference. Marami pa namang games," said Lee, who will take advantage of the break given by Victolero Saturday to visit his dentist. (OL)
