Blackwater head coach Jeff Cariaso pushes his team to keep on grinding and maintain its momentum in the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup.
The Bossing is off to a good start, winning their first three games to gain the solo lead in the all-Filipino wars.
Cariaso, however, would like to see his wards continue working to achieve their goal of making it into the playoffs after consecutive disappointing conferences, including a 1-10 win-loss record in the Commissioner’s Cup.
“Just keep pushing. We’ve been here long enough to understand how quickly things could turn for you,” Cariaso said on Wednesday after Blackwater’s 90-78 blasting of Converge.
The Bossing cruised past the FiberXers in a game where they led by as much as 35 points.
Christian David, Rey Suerte, Troy Rosario, RK Ilagan and Richard Escoto led the way in the blowout game.
Blackwater is now a win away from replicating its best start that it accomplished back in the 2018 Governors’ Cup.
“We want to maintain the good things that we’re doing now and we want to improve on the things that I think we need to improve on. And there’s a lot,” Cariaso said.
The Bossing tripped Meralco, 96-93, in the opener before scoring an upset over TNT Tropang Giga, 87-76, last Sunday.
David, who has been consistent in his productions with 12 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game, agrees.
“Like coach said, we’re just gonna keep working hard,” he said.
“Every game, we’re gonna play like a playoff game. We’re gonna come to each game with a chip on our shoulder. We’ll see what happens.”
Blackwater will face NLEX next Wednesday and Terrafirma on 16 March before going on a long break.
Cariaso expects nothing but the full effort of his men.
“We’re still very young. We’re still very young together, if that makes sense, you know? We haven’t been together for a long time. We’re just hoping to keep pushing and stay focused,” he said.