Racela on missed opportunities for playoff career: ‘Very unfortunate’

SMART CLARK GIGA CITY – Coach Nash Racela believes that history would have been different for Blackwater at the PBA Philippine Cup if they had won their close encounters against San Miguel and Meralco.

After a brief postponement and a decent 2-3 record, the Elite surrendered a 90-88 decision in overtime to the Beermen on November 3 before narrowly losing to the Bolts, 89-85, in the game. the next day that was marred by a late commotion.

Blackwater couldn’t come back from those two heartbreaking losses and dropped its next four games, including a 95-80 loss to Magnolia to close out its campaign Wednesday night at AUF Arena.

“If we had gotten one game in a (first) game in a row, it could have been a different conference for us,” said Racela, whose team ended the eliminations with a six-game losing streak for a 2-9 overall. card.

The 48-year-old mentor regretted his missed opportunity against San Miguel and a crucial wrong decision late in his game against Meralco, which he said league officials later admitted in review.

Don Trollano made a basket to tie the game at 70, but was called for an offensive foul, allowing the Bolts to break 74-68 en route to victory.

“Very unfortunate, but it is something we could learn from. Hopefully the next time those things (that) we can’t control will come back to our side. ”

But before those defeats, the Elite already suffered setbacks in the middle of the All-Filipino tournament.

A Blackwater player became one of two “false positives” within the bubble, causing their games to be postponed.

Racela’s team had a 12-day hiatus and was forced to play six games in nine days after the league resumed after a brief hiatus to comply with new protocols established by the IATF and DOH.

Injuries also compounded Elite’s woes, with No. 2 pick Maurice Shaw struggling with back spasms, Mac Belo playing limited minutes due to injury and Paul Desiderio needing to go home to treat his leg injury and attend to business. personal.

“Not the best bubble experience for Blackwater. I cannot list many things that we have found inside. I can’t deny that it affected us while we’re here too. But we just wanted to give ourselves a chance, that’s why we keep fighting. ”

Still, Racela and her young team were able to recall the learnings they had during the remarkable bubble season.

“An important aspect is that we do our part and hopefully we learn from this bubble experience that we could make a positive breakthrough.”