Three weeks into the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Governors’ Cup, only one team remains unbeaten.

NLEX has emerged as the early pacesetter, sitting atop Group A with a pristine 4-0 record under first-conference head coach Jimmy Alapag.

More impressive than the record is the manner in which the Road Warriors have won. They have dominated opponents by an average of 22.25 points, highlighted by a convincing 110-96 victory over perennial Philippine Cup champion San Miguel Beer last Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

That average was inflated by a 39-point rout of Macau in Alapag’s coaching debut on opening day last July 10 and a 35-point drubbing of Titan Ultra four days later in Antipolo. But beyond the blowouts, NLEX has displayed the consistency of a team that already knows exactly who it wants to be.

Through four games, the Road Warriors have averaged 115.0 points, 26.5 assists and 23.25 fastbreak points per game — all second in the conference only to Converge. Their ball movement has been crisp, their transition game relentless and their execution on both ends remarkably efficient.

They have also shown resilience.

In between those wins over Macau and Titan last 12 July, NLEX escaped with a 101-100 victory over Terrafirma despite seeing a 23-point lead nearly disappear. Against the Beermen, the Road Warriors built a 25-point advantage, watched it dwindle to just eight, then calmly regrouped and pulled away again.

Those are encouraging signs for a team hoping to duplicate its Commissioner’s Cup feat last conference when it finished atop the eliminations with a 10-2 record and entered the playoffs as the No. 1 seed.

The challenges, however, only get tougher.

NLEX collides with Converge (3-1) this Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena in a showdown between the conference’s two most explosive offensive teams before facing defending champion TNT Tropang 5G three days later at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

Converge currently leads the league in scoring (120.3 ppg), points in the paint (75.5), assists (32.8), and fastbreak points (31.0). Adding another wrinkle is the arrival of former National Basketball Association veteran Jamaal Franklin, who has replaced Jalen Hudson.

A victory would already give NLEX its best conference opening in franchise history. The Road Warriors also previously started 4-0 in the 2017 Governors’ Cup under Yeng Guiao and Aaron Fuller, the 2022 Governors’ Cup with Guiao and KJ McDaniels, and the 2023 Governors’ Cup under Frankie Lim and Jonathan Simmons.

For Alapag personally, the milestone is equally significant.

He became the first rookie PBA head coach in 16 years to win his first four games since fellow Most Valuable Player and PBA 50 Greatest Player Ato Agustin guided San Miguel Beer to a 5-0 start in the 2010-11 Philippine Cup.

The leadership that made Alapag one of the greatest point guards of his generation — leading TNT to six championships and steering Gilas Pilipinas back to the pinnacle of Asian basketball — now appears to be translating seamlessly to the sidelines.

Can he finally lead NLEX to the Promised Land a.k.a. first-ever PBA title?

It’s far too early to make that prediction. But through four games, Alapag has already shown that the Road Warriors are no longer just a promising team. They are beginning to look like a legitimate championship contender.