No hard feelings after LA defeat to former team

“Actually I’m happy for them. I still have a few friends pa rin naman sa Alaska na talagang close ko,” says Ginebra guard and former Alaska star LA Tenorio. Jerome Ascano



THERE’S no hard feelings for LA Tenorio losing the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals Sunday night, more so to his former team Alaska.

“Wala namang issue. Wala naman sa akin `yun. It just so happened na Alaska lang `yung nakalaban namin sa Finals,” said the 28-year-old Tenorio moments after the Kings were swept by the Aces before the biggest crowd in league history of 23,436 at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.

Tenorio was still the main man at Alaska’s backcourt the last time the franchise won a championship during the 2010 Fiesta Cup, where he emerged co-Finals MVP with Cyrus Baguio.

And now that the Aces clinched another title – their 14^th overall – they have to do it with Tenorio calling the shots for the opposing team.

“Actually I’m happy for them. I still have a few friends pa rin naman sa Alaska na talagang close ko,” admitted the former Ateneo point guard who was traded by Alaska to Ginebra during the offseason in a blockbuster six-player deal.

Tenorio, named the Best Player of the Conference prior to Game Three, topscored for the Kings with 18 points, three rebounds, and three assists, but a huge fourth-quarter run by the Aces took the fight out ofthe league’s crowd darlings.

The Ginebra star admitted surviving four do-or-die games during the course of the playoffs – two each against no.2 seed Rain or Shine in the quarterfinals and Talk `N Text in the semifinals – took its toll on the Kings.

“Factor (of being tired), yes. Pagod especially our import (Vernon Macklin) who’s playing hurt in the Finals,” he pointed out. “But it’s not an excuse to be tired. Finals na ito e.”

And lest he be misunderstood, Tenorio is not taking the credit away from his former team.

“They (Aces) came in really prepared. They’re the No. 1 team and they are a complete team. Alaska deserves the championship,” said Tenorio.