Magnolia is poised to end the year with a bang starting against Rain or Shine on Saturday in a road game of the Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup at the Aquilino Pimentel International Convention Center in Cagayan de Oro City.
Hotshots head coach Chito Victolero said they have no illusion of completing a perfect campaign but they will go all out in their next three matches, including their 6:15 p.m. game against the rejuvenated Elasto Painters, in a bid to close 2023 with a bang.
The Hotshots have yet to lose in the past nine months. The last time they suffered a setback was on 22 March via a 107-113 beating from Meralco in the quarterfinals of the Governors’ Cup.
They went undefeated in the PBA On Tour and remained undefeated in their first seven games in the season-opening conference.
After Rain or Shine, the Hotshots will tackle struggling teams Terrafirma on 20 December and Converge on 23 December to finally wrap up their 2023 campaign.
Victolero admitted that coming up with a strong finish to their 2023 campaign may sound ideal, but they will not get distracted from the task at hand, which is winning their first title since 2018.
“We’re not focused much on the record, but we want to get better every game,” Victolero told Daily Tribune in an interview.
“Our objective is to make sure that our level of play won’t diminish regardless of the team that we’re facing.”
But veteran guard Mark Barroca admitted that shutting down the year with a victory is now being discussed among players as it will be a big boost to their morale heading into their title campaign.
“That’s the mindset of the players,” Barroca said.
“We talked about that on how to finish strong and stay unbeaten before the year ends.”
He, however, agrees with Victolero, saying that the most important thing is not the victories but the lessons they will pick up along the way.
“Win or lose, the most important thing is we learn something and continuously improve,” said Barroca, recalling the incident in which they were already on the verge of reaching the 2021 Governors’ Cup finals but bungled their semifinal series against Meralco.
“One thing we don’t want to lose is the momentum because it happened to us two years ago with Mike Harris as import.” REY JOBLE
