Charles Tiu piloted the Phoenix Fuel Masters to a quarterfinals berth in his maiden conference. Unfortunately, his young squad faced what was then a sleeping juggernaut in Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, which went on to win the PBA Commissioner’s Cup title. To make things worse, they came in with a twice-to-win disadvantage.
Now, the Fuel Masters are back in the quarterfinals. Only this time, they are guaranteed at least three games in a best-of-five series. Unfortunately, they will be facing the top-seeded NLEX Road Warriors, a team pundits believe has the makings of a championship contender.
No Easy Path for Phoenix
Then again, Tiu and his team know full well there is no “easy” adversary in the quarterfinals, especially in the stacked Group A quartet of NLEX, the San Miguel Beermen, the Converge FiberXers, and TNT Tropang 5G.
“Kasi sabi namin, it didn’t really matter who we played, whether it be Converge, San Miguel or NLEX. Mas malakas silang lahat sa amin. They’re a stacked group sa top four,” Tiu pointed out after Phoenix lost its final game in the elimination round, a 133-103 rout at the hands of the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters on Friday.
Tiu is right. Regardless of where they ended up in Group B, the Fuel Masters would’ve still faced a powerhouse. San Miguel would’ve been an insurmountable mountain to scale. Converge would’ve been equally formidable. And so would NLEX.
Tiu Hopes Fuel Masters Believe
Phoenix will look to do the seemingly impossible later tonight when it takes on NLEX in Game 1 of their quarterfinals clash. As the Fuel Masters go into battle, Tiu can only hope that his young team comes in with a firm belief that it can beat a contender like the Road Warriors.
“I’m looking forward to it. I think it’s more, for me, ‘yung players, how we adjust. Kasi, I think a lot of guys on our team actually haven’t been in a series like this. If they were there naman, hindi pa sila ‘yung main guys,” Tiu said. “So, kami we’ll just take it one game at a time and hopefully we believe, or the guys can believe, that we can pull off the upset.”
The road to an upset begins tonight.
