It's rather early in the PBA Philippine Cup, but the Phoenix Fuel Masters picked up a much-needed win that could come in handy down the line in the playoff race.
When nothing is quite working for you, some changes may be in order.
Phoenix did just that, after the Fuel Masters slip to a 1-3 start in the early goings of the PBA Season 49 Philippine Cup.
However, head coach Jamike Jarin didn't necessarily shake up the Phoenix lineup.
Rather, Jarin made his wards play frisbee as a warmup exercise before the practice sessions leading up to Friday’s match against TNT.
It worked wonders as the Fuel Masters drubbed the Tropang 5G, 95-81, for a nice much-needed victory for the team in the All-Filipino.
[RELATED STORY: Perkins ‘stays in the moment' as he helps Phoenix deal TNT its worst start in 25 years]
“To answer your question, I just wanted to put in something different. Usually, I do those kind of stuff even before playing, when I was still coaching high school, college, I would do those stuff,” said Jarin after the match at the Ynares Center in Montalban.
Jarin went on to explain the rational behind the unusual routine.
“The reason why we did that, we just wanted to have fun,” he said.
“Like what I said, pre-game. We forgot to have fun eh. No matter what the results will be after 48 minutes, we have to have fun.”
But it’s not enough to just have fun, right?
That’s why the amiable mentor urged his players to have fun while winning, and they responded big time against TNT. At the lead was Jason Perkins, who scattered 27 points to go with six rebounds and three assists, while four others finished in double figures.
Tyler Tio put up 16 points, three rebounds, and four assists, Ken Tuffin wound up with 11 points, six rebounds, three assists, and two steals, while Kai Ballungay and RJ Jazul scored 11 and 10 points, respectively.
“But, I said, it's going to be more fun winning than having fun losing. So, we all responded,” Jarin said.