As the gamers celebrated on the courtroom the TNT Tropang Giga’s first Governors’ Cup crown, there was a second when Jojo Lastimosa was seen alone as he savored his first teaching title.
It was a second of disbelief for him as he steered a crew to the crown in his first time as a head coach.
WATCH: TNT head coach Jojo Lastimosa savors the second whereas the crew celebrates their championship on the courtroom @gmasportsph pic.twitter.com/U9RcPPfPGw
— JK Carandang (@jk_carandang) April 21, 2023
Lastimosa was handed the reins to TNT early this 12 months as earlier coach Chot Reyes shifted his focus to the nationwide crew.
“It’s incredible, it’s unbelievable,” mentioned Lastimosa in a post-game convention.
“Even nung mag-buzzer na, kahit alam kong mananalo na, ‘My God, this is really happening.'”
(“Even when the buzzer was close to sounding, even if I knew we were going to win, ‘My God, this is really happening.'”)
Apparently, when Lastimosa was tapped to educate TNT, he requested to make the requires the crew on his personal.
“Can you imagine, paulit-ulit ko sinasabi, I’m not supposed to be here. I’m not supposed to be coaching this,” the champion coach mentioned. “Our deal was if I’m gonna coach, I’ll coach it and I’m not just gonna be a mouthpiece and they agreed to that.”
(“Can you imagine, I said this over and over, I’m not supposed to be here. I’m not supposed to be coaching this. Our deal was if I’m gonna coach, I’ll coach it and I’m not just gonna be a mouthpiece and they agreed to that.”)
For Lastimosa, a well-recognized system with well-versed coaches put the crew on monitor to the crown.
“Sina Josh [Reyes], Sandy [Arespacochaga], Yuri [Escueta], alam nila ang system. Nagkakaiba lang ang subtititution patterns ko and timeouts but generally it was an incredible job by the coaches,” he added.
(“Josh, Sandy, Yuri, they know the system. We just have different substitutions patterns and timeouts but generally it was an incredible job by the coaches.”)
But except for familiarity and the gamers’ efforts within the recreation, future and religion made TNT’s story higher and extra thrilling.
“I believe in destiny and in faith. Things happen for a reason,” Lastimosa mentioned when requested about TNT being the one non-San Miguel Corporation crew to win latest conferences.
“They’re not accidents. Rondae [Hollis-Jefferson] being here, Roger being out, Justin [Brownlee] having food poisoning, there’s a lot of drama involved.”
“You can’t fight destiny, you can’t fight faith. If it’s gonna happen to you, it’s gonna happen to you.”
“I’ve been here in this situation before as a player and this is the kind of environment where I know what’s at stake,” Lastimosa added.
“I would prefer to have played in that situation than coached,” he mentioned in jest.
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
