From "really bad animosity" to an emotional hug, Jojo Lastimosa and Mikey Williams have gone a long way.
Jojo Lastimosa knows all too well what it's like to butt heads with his coach. He WAS that player.
And it was that knowledge of both sides of the situation that helped the TNT Tropang Giga coach bring out the potential of Finals MVP Mikey Williams—who scored a whopping 38 points in Game 6—to secure the squad's first-ever Governors' Cup at the expense of the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel.
During the celebration, Lastimosa was seen hugging his player and cradling his face.
"There was really bad animosity between the two of us, and we were able to talk about it," Lastimosa told the media after clinching the title.
"Nung nag-coach na ako and makikita ninyo naman sa game, si Mikey minsan nagagalit sa sub ko, ayaw magpa-sub," he recalled. "Okay lang sa'kin 'yung mga ganun, magagalit ka. Because I was the same way, ayoko magpalabas."
The key to Jolas' success, aptly enough for a telecommunications-sponsored squad, was communication.
"One thing I wanted to do differently is if I do something, the patterns, I need to explain to them. I need to communicate," Lastimosa said.
Coaches don't usually explain their methods. Lastimosa knows. He was at the end of it when he played for now-Ginebra coach Tim Cone when they were part of the Alaska Aces.
"Nag-aaway kami ni Tim sa finals. Ang daming beses kaming nagsisigawan sa locker room," he recalled. "There were things I wanted to happen and 'di niya ine-explain to me," Lastimosa said, even mentioning the 1998 Asian Games where he was benched in the semifinals against China.
Jolas poured his frustrations out in the bronze medal game against Kazakhstan in what he dubbed as his "angry game," as told to the podcast An Eternity of Basketball.
"The thing is, I've learned from that. As a coach, you just need communication," Lastimosa reflected.
And when he spoke of communication, it was not just one conversation. It was a dialogue that lasted an entire season.
Working then as the team manager, Lastimosa had to negotiate Williams' contract, resulting in the former Rookie of the Year sitting out the first few games of the Philippine Cup. The high-scoring guard also skipped practices in the Commissioner's Cup, prompting his suspension.
"Two alphas, they're going to butt heads," Williams admitted after Game 6. "Trying to learn Jolas was a new balance in itself."
"Not really knowing Jolas too long, don't really know how to maneuver and operate in certain situations," he said. "We just started to compete and just started understanding him and his coaching style."
It resulted in TNT winning its first-ever Governors' Cup, and dealing defending champions Ginebra its first finals loss with three-time Best Import Justin Brownlee.
"Seldom you beat Justin Brownlee and Tim Cone in this conference. They own this. They own the Governors' Cup," Lastimosa acknowledged. "If there's somebody who can dethrone them, they must've done something really nice."
"First time Justin Brownlee lost the finals, and Sean Chambers will be happy," Jolas added.
(With reports from Diobelle Lao, One Sports Digital)