Romero wants to equal NBA Celtics’ feat in PBL

MANILA, Philippines – The Harbour Centre franchise is out to do a Boston Celtics dynasty in the Philippine Basketball League (PBL). With title no. 7 safely tucked under its belt following Oracle Residences’ Game 5 victory over Pharex last week in the PG Flex Unity Cup best-of-five title series, team owner Mikee Romero readily declared his ballclub’s readiness to go for an eighth straight championships. A shade of the Celtics’ championship era in the 60s? You bet. “We will go for our eighth straight championship and equal the feat of those Celtics," Romero said Tuesday when finally presented the shiny trophy to him by team manager Eric Arejola and the rest of the Titans crew led by coach Glenn Capacio. Romero, the current PBL chairman, was not around during the entire series, being away with his family in the United States. He flew home past midnight of Tuesday, and had barely slept when he graced the weekly PSA Forum. No team has ever won seven straight titles in the PBL or even the PBA. And Romero's team, which won its first six championships under the Harbour Centre banner, is not going to rest on its laurel in shooting for an eighth straight crown. Romero said the Boston Celtics team that won eight straight NBA championships from 1959 to 1966, led by Hall of Famers Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, John Havlicek, Don Nelson, KC Jones, among others, and coached by Red Auerbach, was great in talent, but his Oracle Titans will not be far behind when it comes to pride. "Winning eight straight titles have never been done here and we are just one title away. I'd like to compare our team and that Boston Celtics when it comes to pride. It's like when you put on that jersey, all you want to do it win. That's pride," he said. The only difference, Romero said, is that Boston did it with a tight crew as compared to his PBL franchise which had to deal with player movement as each season passed. This one is no different, as a handful more players, including finals most valuable player Chris Timberlake, are on the way out. "Five or six players are moving out to join the PBA, and they include these three," he said looking at Timberlake, Rico Maierhofer and Benedict Fernandez. "But we will rebuild. We've always been that way. We will rebuild then we will go for that eighth straight championship." "The secret of our success does never want to lose. What I impart to my players every time they play for me is mental toughness. It’s an attitude of not wanting to lose, and it keeps us alive, it is our refusal to lose concept," said Romero. It was the first time Capacio, one of the great defenders that ever played in the PBA, coached a Romero franchise and he said it was not easy taking over the post from George Gallent, who won for Harbour its first six titles. "It took me two weeks to decide on the offer of Mr. Romero. I didn't think I could handle the pressure. But I said yes and took it as a challenge. So, I faced it," said Capacio, who thanked his players for believing in his system of “better ball movement." "Seriously, this time around I did not expect to win. Sorry, coach," said Romero. "Primarily because we didn't have top players. No superstars. We had our top players loaned to the national team and they only played three games each in this conference. I did not expect we will go this far. "People said we couldn't win anymore because we also had a new coach. But with due respect to George coach Glenn held his own. But I really had a hard time convincing him. My team manager, Erick, and me even thought we'd end up coaching this team," said Romero. - GMANews.TV