HK squad aims to sustain solid form

Games today:

(Filoil EcoOil Centre)

5 p.m. — Eastern vs Blackwater

7:30 p.m. — Rain or Shine vs San Miguel

Hong Kong Eastern seeks to post back-to-back victories as it clashes with Blackwater in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup today at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.

Hostilities start at 5 p.m. with the Hong Kong club looking to sustain its momentum after booking a convincing 105-84 win over TNT Tropang Giga last Friday for its third win in four matches.

With that, Eastern shares the third spot with idle NLEX behind surprise leaders NorthPort and Meralco, who have yet to lose in the early stretch of this midseason tournament.

Still, Hong Kong head coach Mensur Bajramovic admitted that winning in the oldest professional league in Asia is easier said than done, especially to a visiting team like them.

“Each game is tough. Each game is a new challenge. PBA teams have different styles of playing and for each game we need to make adjustments,” said Barjamovic, whose lone loss of the season came at the hands of new import Deon Thompson and Rain or Shine last Wednesday, 81-99, at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.

“We didn’t play well against Rain or Shine, we didn’t rotate and switch well on defense and we didn’t move the ball.”

Eastern will lean on Cameron Clark following his double-double game of 36 points and 14 rebounds against the Tropang Giga.

Another factor in play for the visiting squad is the holiday traffic jam as the San Juan venue is closer compared to the Ninoy Aquino Stadium, where they suffered their first loss of the season.

“This (traffic congestion) was a big problem. We already did taping and dressing in the bus actually because we didn’t predict well the (travel) time we needed,” Barjamovic said.

“Now, we know Manila very well. So now we will change our time of leaving the hotel to come early.”