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One of the many surprises that the ever-generous PBA bubble has gifted everyone so early is the resurgence of Blackwater Elite, which appears to have found a new identity under head coach Nash Racela.
Seen more as a team looking to turn its fortunes through a slow and bumpy growth process, Blackwater put the league on notice at the current 2020 Philippine Cup and have already racked up impressive wins against NorthPort and NLEX to go 2-1. in the positions.
The Elite, who rode a productive bench unit and another big wave of the third quarter to beat NLEX on Saturday, would have remained immaculate at 3-0 had they only been able to sustain a furious attack in the second half against coach Tim Cone and Barangay Geneva on Thursday. .
Geneva’s poise was manifested in that 103-99 win over Blackwater, but it wasn’t the first thing Cone spoke when he took the podium to address the media after the game. Instead, he chose to open his press conference by praising Racela, who almost successfully authored a plan that would have given the Gin Kings their first experience of defeat of the season.
“I thought Nash was a great coach when he coached TNT. I was always impressed by the way his teams shared and the way they read defense,” Cone noted. “They had a great third quarter, but I’m really impressed by the way they played the defense, they reacted really well, they made the right passes. We were fighting most of the night.”
Racela acknowledges the praise she received from the only coach with two Grand Slams in league history.
“It’s something I really appreciate, coming from a veteran coach in Tim Cone, the winningest coach in the PBA,” Racela said Saturday after her Elite scored a 98-88 decision over NLEX in a win that was more lopsided. than the marker suggested. . “The next morning after our game, I was able to talk to him in the pool area (at the Quest Hotel). I heard some positive things from him, and that really encourages me as a coach.”
If Racela was brilliant enough as a coach to deserve praise from someone like Cone, then why was she out of a league job for more than two years?
Racela said she simply “lost interest in the PBA” after her last term, a two-year tenure with the TNT franchise, ended abruptly.
“I wouldn’t deny that after I got kicked out of Talk ‘N Text, I somehow lost interest in the PBA,” Racela said. “I was not watching the games for at least a year, even if my brother Olsen was training in Geneva. He was not actually watching the games.”
A longtime TNT assistant coach, winning six titles with the franchise, as well as a mentor to the Far Eastern University champion at UAAP, Racela was first promoted to the position in 2016 to replace Jong Uichico.
Then TNT withstood the departures of longtime mainstays Ranidel de Ocampo and Larry Fonacier and reached the final once with Racela, who led the team to a second place finish in the 2017 Commissioner’s Cup against the Brewers of San Miguel.
Racela also led the franchise to the quarterfinals and semifinals twice each, but saw his first PBA head coaching job cut short in just six conferences after TNT “dumped” him due to a lousy 1- start. 4 in the Governor’s Cup.
Following her departure from TNT, Racela left the PBA and took assistant coach positions at UAAP with FEU and at MPBL with Iloilo.
But the pull of the PBA couldn’t keep him out of the league for long. When Racela saw an opportunity to help the Blackwater franchise start a new chapter, she jumped at the opportunity.
“What really helped me were the coaches and players that we have. They have been helping me a lot, giving input. It is not just me who makes decisions, it is a collective decision. This is how I build a culture in a team. The contributions and the contributions. decisions are collective ”, he said.
Being familiar with the PBA coaches and players, both with the Elite (four players and two recruits are ex-Tamaraws) and across the league also helped Racela feel comfortable coaching again on the bigger stage.
“Most of them I know them as players. I think the team trends are the same, these are the same coaches. Against a lot of them I trained in college, the new coaches, I mean, and in the D-League. Some Players know me in the PBA and some of them I saw in the MPBL. So those are the things that really helped me gradually feel comfortable as a coach again in the PBA, “he explained.
Racela is sure to continue to get her due credit as long as a Blackwater team continues to defy projections, but the 48-year-old coach said he’s not here alone for all that.
“Although I’m not looking for those compliments from other people, I appreciate when I hear them from time to time,” he said. “(But) I know who my biggest audience is. We play, we train, we live for one’s audience, and that’s God. What others say, I don’t really care. I’ll be grateful, I appreciate it, but at the end of the day , I am responsible before God. And that is something na alam ko within me. “
