By REYNALD MAGALLON
NorthPort turned out to have the extra fire in it to beat Converge.
Taking offense to the remarks made by FiberXers head coach Danny Ildefonso about the team, the Batang Pier made sure to make a big response on the court.
And they surely put their message across after a dominant,135-109 victory over Converge with Arvin Tolentino highlighting the night with his historic 51-point explosion.
Head coach Bonnie Tan admitted during his post-game press conference that NorthPort was extra motivated in showing up in the contest after the allusions made by Ildefonso in a comment that went viral in social media over the weekend.
In the comments Ildefonso made through his official Facebook page, the PBA great responded to a fan who was wanting to ban his son, Dave, in the PBA for refusing to sign with NorthPort.
The Batang Pier offered the younger Ildefonso a two-year deal with a P200,000 salary per month in the first year, according to a source.
Ildefonso responded by commenting: “Sabihin mo yan sa farm team mo” and “Ban mo yung mga farm team. Gusto namin sa team na gusto manalo at magchampion.”
The two-time league MVP was then summoned by commissioner Willie Marcial and fined P20,000 for the comments that were deemed detrimental to the league.
Even so, NorthPort used that as a big motivation and proved Ildefonso wrong right before his eyes.
Na-challenge yung team, not only the players but yung buong team namin” said Tan who revealed that the team also read all the news and write-ups of Ildefonso’s remarks before the game.
“Prior to the game, we opened that up. I think we were all challenged by that statement,” he added.
There were no hard feelings though for Tan as he greeted Ildefonso during the customary handshake at the end of the game. The Batang Pier just really wanted to make a point when it led by as many as 29 points and tore the FiberXers apart right in the first half.
“Okay naman kamayan. It’s sports, fair naman yung laro kanina,” said Tan.
