Magnolia wary of Terrafirma

Games today:

(Ynares Center)

5 p.m. — Terrafirma vs Magnolia

7:30 p.m. — TNT vs San Miguel Beer

Magnolia, sporting an unblemished record after four outings, is not taking skidding Terrafirma lightly.

Head coach Chito Victolero is confident his players won’t let their guards down and will remain focused on their goal in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup.

“We can’t be too complacent. Or they might pull the rug from under us,” Victolero said, bracing for another tough grind over the Dyip with the Hotshots eyeing a fifth straight victory today at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.

Game time is at 5 p.m. before second-running San Miguel Beer collides with listless grand slam-seeking TNT in the main game at 7:30 p.m.

Magnolia is on a red-hot roll in the all-Filipino tournament, winning four in a row, including a 118-99 demolition of Phoenix last 26 September.

The Hotshots took some time off before returning to their war room to prepare for the next battle.

“Actually, after our game in (Zamboanga), we had our film viewing last Tuesday and showed them the areas we need to improve on,” Victolero said.

“It’s continuous learning for us. I told the boys that our conference doesn’t end with us going 4-0.”

Magnolia’s new system of a stretched rotation has been doing wonders for the team so far. It preserves the legs of veterans like Mark Barroca, Ian Sangalang, Paul Lee and Calvin Abueva for crunchtime while giving young guns led by Zav Lucero and rookie Jerom Lastimosa confidence with ample playing minutes.

Victolero, however, is pushing his team to continue evolving and improving as the tournament progresses.

“We still have lapses on our defense that we need to address. We need to improve our rebounding. On offense, we need to create better spacing on transition and limit our turnovers,” he said.

The Dyip, marred by distractions their franchise being up for sale, are on a downward spiral after a good start as they dropped their last three games.

Terrafirma is tied with Blackwater and NorthPort with identical 1-3 win-loss slates.

On the other hand, the Beermen eye to spark a winning run following a bounce-back victory over Barangay Ginebra, 104-93, last 25 April.

San Miguel holds a 3-1 mark, tied with NLEX.

Tropang 5G, meanwhile, seeks to barge in the win column after three failed tries.

TNT suffered a shocking 81-95 loss to Phoenix last Friday for the franchise’s worst start in 25 years since marking a similar start in the 2000 Philippine Cup.