MANILA, Philippines – Phoenix head coach Louie Alas experienced the wrath of his former team’s defensive prowess as his Fuel Masters absorbed a 75-93 drubbing from the Alaska Aces last January 31, Wednesday.

Alas, who helped sharpen the Aces’ defense as a deputy in the last few years before taking the coaching reins for Phoenix, saw the Fuel Masters get limited to 24 first half points, the lowest first half production this season so far, as Alaska cruised to its 5th straight win.

Ironically, Phoenix was responsible for the second lowest first half production this season after keeping Barangay Ginebra to 29 points in the first two quarters of its 87-82 triumph last January 26.

“We were raped by my former team,” said Alas.

Phoenix buried only 30 of its 89 shot attempts, marked by a paltry 21% shooting from long range (4-of-19) while Alaska shot a respectable 45%. In its last 4 games, Phoenix shot 40.7% from the field and 33.7% from 3-point distance.

For Alas, the Fuel Masters have yet to materialize to the defensive juggernaut he wants them to become.

“If you will remember ‘yung mga championship game namin noon, kaya kami nakarating sa championship because of the physicality of the game. Eh kami nagstart pa lang kaming matutunan ‘yun.”

(If you will remember the championship games we played in, the reason why we reached the championship if because of the physicality of the game. We are just starting to learn that.)

“Ganoon din ‘yung gusto kong maging kultura nitong team na ‘to, na talagang barometer is depensa. And so far, on a scale of one to 10, nasa 4 pa lang ata kami, baka wala pa. We need to improve it a lot better than what we did today.”

(What I want this team’s culture to have is making defense as the barometer. And so far, on a scale of one to 10, we are still at 4 or lower. We need to improve it a lot better than what we did today.)

The Fuel Masters, who dropped to fifth place with a 3-4 card, will try to climb up in the standings as they clash with the TNT KaTropa on February 7 at the Mall of Asia Arena. – Rappler.com