Dubai: Talk N Text Tropang Texters coach Chot Reyes has blamed the Philippines Basketball Association's (PBA) Governors Cup excursion to Dubai in June for his side's failure to clinch a historic grand slam of championships in one season.
Having lost to Petron Blaze Boosters four games to three in the Governors Cup Finals, which ended at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City in the Philippines on Sunday night, Reyes singled out the Dubai trip as a key reason behind the defeat.
Talk N Text was in Dubai from June 28 to July 4 to play an unprecedented back-to-back elimination matches against BMeg Llamados and Barangay Ginebra Kings in the league's controversial Middle East Swing. They lost the first match 111-105, but won the second 123-113.
Leaving Dubai, Talk N Text was stranded firstly at the hotel for the promoters alleged inability to settle the bill and secondly at the airport where there had been a problem with the flight booking. Players were left paying for flights out of their own pocket.
Speaking to Gulf News bye phone, Reyes said: "In one word fatigue cost us the final. We played 65 games in ten months. It was a brutal schedule. We played back-to-back games in Dubai and that had never been done in the history of PBA by any team, and fatigue caught up with us."
Injuries
Injuries to key players further blighted their chances in the finals, denying Talk N Text the honour of becoming only the fourth team in the 36-year-history of the PBA to land a treble of championships in a single season.
The fabled Crispa Redmanizers did it twice in 1976 and 1983 while San Miguel Beermen and Alaska Milkmen did it in 1989 and 1996, respectively.
The multi-titled Reyes would have joined the coaching ‘hall of fame' ranks of Baby Dalupan, Tommy Manotoc, Norman Black and Tim Cone if successful, but instead his team becomes the eighth "pretender" to have won two out of three series within one season.
Asked if Reyes singled out the Dubai trip as detrimental, he said: "Definitely. It was as if the situation conspired to deny us the Grand Slam. Jimmy Alapag suffered a fractured rib in the second game in Dubai and hasn't been the same since. It was all very unfortunate,but it strengthened our resolve to win. Ginebra and BMeg were tipped for the finals also but they didn't get over that experience in Dubai, Petron didn't have to go through that so you might wonder if it's a factor in the final."
Reyes added: "I'm sad for the players. It's something they would have taken throughout their lives. It's hard to fault the team. It will be difficult to mount another treble challenge, the reason it's such a rare feat is because the parity of the league is very high. It's not my style to cry over spilt milk or make excuses. It's disappointing but I'm proud of my team's efforts. We had a great year winning two championships and reaching three finals so we shouldn't be too disappointed."
