Cebuana Lhuillier comfortable with coach’s fast-paced system

It’s never easy to change an offensive system overnight. But for head coach Beaujing Acot and the Cebuana Lhuillier Gems, they’ve had few problems adopting a new philosophy mid-tournament.

“We’ve decided to play a fast-paced game because there are a lot of skilled players on this team,” Acot told InterAKTV.

They began the PBA D-League Foundation Cup running the triangle offense of former mentor Luigi Trillo, who was named interim coach of the Alaska Aces in the PBA last month. After his departure, the Gems completely shelved the structured offense in favor of the free-flowing system now being used by Acot.

“It was a decision very much welcomed by the players. The management told us that players in the D-League come and go and they’ve short time learning the system, so we used a system easy for them to adopt, which is the up-tempo style of play,” said Acot.

With Acot at the helm, the Gems have now won three straight games, capped by a one-sided 90-64 bashing of the Junior Powerade Tigers.

The Gems had earlier booked convincing victories over Blackwater Sports, 101-84, and RnW Pacific Pipes, 100-86.

With the win, Cebuana Lhuillier also improved its win-loss record to 6-2 and is now assured of a quarterfinals berth, a goal that Acot had previously set.

“We just want to see where we can go from there,” he added.

Follow @interaksyon