Texters coach Reyes still wary with injury-depleted Kings

January 28, 2010

Barangay Ginebra still has issues on players’ injuries to address entering its KFC-PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals series with defending champion Talk ‘N Text.

But not even that couldn’t take away Tropang Texters’ coach Chot Reyes’ worried look especially since they’ll be up against the league’s crowd darlings.

Chot Reyes

Even in the absence of top gun Mark Caguioa and defensive whiz Junthy Valenzuela, Reyes considers the Kings a very formidable opponent that is standing in his team’s way to repeat as All-Filipino champions.

"Mas malakas sila ngayon. Ang players nila sobra (They are much stronger now. They have a lot of players)," said Reyes as the Tropang Texters prepare for Game 1 of their best-of-five series that begins Friday.

"They have Cyrus Baguio, Ronald Tubid and JC Intal, who we think we have to contain. Imagine if they have Caguioa and Junthy playing, then those players will be lost in the rotation."

"To be honest, we are the underdogs in the series," added Reyes.

Both Caguioa and Valenzuela remain doubtful for the Kings as both still have to recover from their respective injuries.

Even reigning league most valuable player (MVP) JayJay Helterbrand is also uncertain of suiting up for the Kings.

Jong Uichico

"So how can we say that they (Texters) are the underdogs?" coach Jong Uichico asked, obviously refuting Reyes’ statement that the Kings are the favored team with three of Ginebra’s star players on the injured list.

"Sana kung mas malakas kami, kami ang nag-champion (If we had been the stronger team, we would have been the champions) last season because we have the same intact line-up."

Uichico tried to reverse the situation, stressing, “All I can say is that we are playing the defending champions with a healthy, intact line-up, not to mention the addition of Nic Belasco."

Talk ‘N Text and Ginebra split their elimination head-to-head duel in the eliminations.

And while the Tropang Texters barely made it to the quarterfinals, the Kings will be going into the playoffs fresh from a four-game winning streak.

"Definitely, they’re the hottest team right now," said Reyes. – GMANews.TV