A game after dropping 118 in a win over Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, the NLEX Road Warriors put up 120 in another victory, this time against the Phoenix Fuel Masters on Easter Sunday. It is NLEX’s fourth win in this PBA Commissioner’s Cup, and it’s safe to say main man Robert Bolick is liking what he’s seeing with his team.
NLEX Trips Phoenix with Balanced Attack
As they did against Ginebra, the Road Warriors used a complete team effort to dispatch Phoenix. This time, five players finished in double figures after four did the same a couple of weeks earlier. NLEX was so prolific on Sunday that Bolick scattered 14 dimes while firing 22 markers of his own. Such a balanced attack, according to Berto, aligns with coach Jong Uichico’s team effort mantra—and it is something that makes the Road Warriors hard to beat.
“Ganda namin panuorin sa loob. Ganda ng chemistry namin, ang ganda ng ikutan ng bola,” Bolick said about NLEX’s balanced effort against Phoenix. “Every quarter merong mainit sa amin. Nahirapan kami nung first quarter, si Schonny [Winston] ’yung bumanat agad, second quarter import naman namin [Cady Lalanne], si Tony [Anthony Semerad] mainit, tapos sa fourth quarter, si Kevin [Alas] pumasok, nag-init rin. Maganda pag ganun. Si Richie [Rodger] pumasok rin nakadalawang three points, si Bahio ang ganda rin ng start nung fourth. ’Yun ’yung tinatawag ni coach na team effort…”
Winston scored 11 of his 16 in the first quarter, while Semerad had three triples in the second just as Phoenix was making a big run. Alas, on the other hand, tallied 18, with 14 coming in the fourth even as Lalanne put up 29 points and 10 boards.
Bolick Happy with NLEX’s Chemistry, Has High Praise for Lalanne
With different Road Warriors clicking at different times, NLEX was able to sustain its fiery start and fend off every Phoenix rally. When this happens, the Road Warriors, according to Bolick, become hard to defend, and it showed against Phoenix. It also helps that NLEX has a rock-solid import in Lalanne, whom Berto compared to NBA great Kawhi Leonard.
“Maganda ’yung chemistry, maganda ’yung pasahan. Mas mahirap kami depensahan pag ganun e,” Bolick added. “Tapos meron pa kaming import na parang Kawhi. Tahimik lang, ’di mo ramdam pero 29-10 na pala ’yung ginawa. Ang ganda ng depensa niya kay [James] Dickey. So, credit talaga sa teammates ko. Napakadaling mag-basketball ’pag ’yung mga kasama mo magagaling rin… hopefully tuloy-tuloy ’yung momentum namin.”
The Road Warriors will get to work on that improving chemistry even more as they’ll get a week off before they get back to action on April 14, this time against the still-winless Macau Black Knights.
