Jong Uichico on TNT's playoff exit: We're living in Chot Reyes' time

Tropang TNT head coach Jong Uichico did not mince his words after his team bowed out of the playoffs via an embarrassing 99-81 thrashing from Alaska on Friday, saying that his players were living in the past.

Usually a man of few words, the veteran coach called his squad out after missing the semifinals in the past three conferences following their championship run in last season's Commissioner's Cup.

Uichico said his players are living in the glorious era of former coach Chot Reyes, who led the team to five championships in the early 2010s.

"Chot Reyes did a great job," he said. "They're re-living those days. They're not there anymore. We should find another way to play the game."

The coach rued his team's attitude in Game Three, which saw them fall behind by 25 points in the fourth quarter.

"We had a shot to make the semis but we played well first game, we played pretty well the second game, but we didn't play at all today," he said. "When it's a do-or-die, how can another team just dominate you that way?"

TNT won Game One of the best-of-three series after surviving a late Alaska run in the fourth quarter, but they dropped Game Two in a close encounter which went all the way to the last possession.

The Tropa, however, picked the worst possible time to have an off-game after a lackluster showing in the sudden death with a semifinals berth a stake.

"We could've lost the game, wala namang problema e. [Just] not that way, never. Unless the team is so superior, which they (Aces) are not," Uichico said.

"When things are going well, they're going well. When things aren't going well, they just give up. It's happened so many times," he added, also recalling TNT's lopsided loss against Rain or Shine in the knockout quarterfinals last conference.

Now, the coach said his team once again did not fight back enough in the face of Alaska's relentless attack.

"I'm not saying they quit. It's just that [when] things aren't going their way the more you should find resilience in yourself," he said. — DVM, GMA News