Austria satisfied despite ‘ugly’ game

San Miguel Beer head coach Leo Austria doesn’t mind having an “ugly game” following their 91-99 overtime loss to Hong Kong Eastern in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup late Sunday at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.

The nine-time PBA champion mentor said committing 22 turnovers that was converted into 25 points is truly a concern but they could have flipped the script had they executed down the crucial stretch.

Still, Austria stressed that there’s nothing to be ashamed of as they pushed the Hong Kong club to the limit before rolling over to absorb their third setback in six games for a solo seventh place.

“We played well. Actually, it was an ugly game where we gave away 25 points off 22 turnovers. Can you imagine that? That’s already good for one quarter,” said Austria, who suffered his first loss since regaining his head coaching role for the Beermen.

“But there was an opportunity for us to win, especially in regulation. We had the last shot. Unfortunately, we were not able to execute well.”

Another factor that contributed to their setback was their unfamiliarity to their new import Jabari Nacis.

The 27-year-old Nacis practiced with the team only twice since getting tapped as replacement of Torren Jones last week.

He finished with 28 points on 11-of-29 shooting to go with 10 rebounds in 49 minutes of action.

However, it was very obvious that the core of June Mar Fajardo, CJ Perez and Marcio Lassiter were still adjusting to him, especially on the defensive end that led to a PBA career-high 26-point explosion of Glen Yang.

“Maybe because we’re still trying to adjust with a new import,” said Austria, referring to Nacis, who will also serve as their reinforcement in the East Asia Super League together with Torren after issuing the pink slip to Quincy Miller.

“It was very obvious that he’s still adjusting. He still doesn’t know the system and what kind of plays we are running because you can’t teach everything in just two days.”