When Jon Cardel met the media shortly after Terrafirma Dyip held off Meralco Bolts 107-102 to book their second straight win and third overall in PBA On Tour, he quickly realized something.
"It's been a long time since I won two straight games," he said in a mixture of Tagalog and English. "The last was in the bubble (in 2021) when we won three straight."
Last season, the Dyip went 3-31, one of the worst single-season marks in PBA history.
They've already equaled that mark over six games in this preseason tournament.
Granted, it's not exactly a regular season tournament, and some teams are missing their stars, but the Dyip aren't exactly complete either.
Just last week, they lost shooter Kevin Ferrer for the rest of the year to an Achilles tear and, against the Bolts, they were without rotation guards Alex Cabagnot and Ed Daquioag.
"We're playing with ten, 11 players sometimes," Cardel noted.
Those who are playing, though, are stepping up.
In their win against NLEX Road Warriors on Friday, Juami Tiongson weighed in with 37 points.
Against the Bolts, it was Eric Camson's turn to step up for a career-high 30. Additionally, youngsters Isaac Go and Javi Gomez de Liano showed fine form with 11 and nine points, respectively.
"A lot of players helped out (against Meralco)," Cardel added. "Meralco is a very strong team.
"Every time they come out, they're very serious. So I told them (his players) right away, 'They're very serious, so we have to be serious. I know you're tired from Friday's game. But that's good.'"
There's just something different about this Terrafirma team that wasn't there last season.
When the Bolts erased an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter and grabbed the lead, last season's Dyip would have folded and called it a night.
Instead, they kept their heads in the game and held on.
Tiongson credited Cardel for holding the team together during the Bolts' run, explaining: "He told us we should lock in defensively and make sure to move the ball because again we were trying to do it all by ourselves.
"I guess you can see our maturity coming out already."
"We played as a team," Camson said. "These last two games, we've felt like brothers on the court. We help each other, we share the ball."
That camaraderie was on full display after the game.
When Camson entered the locker room after his post-game interview as the best player, the rest of the team erupted in cheers.
"To be honest, our friendship and camaraderie goes beyond basketball," Tiongson said. "You can see us cheering for each other on the court. There are times when we'd get p---ed but we never take it personally. It says a lot about our team."
Camson was happy to be recognized, but said he wasn't too surprised, adding: "We're like that even in practice -- so stuff like that, we bring to the games.
"We support each other. Especially Juami, because he's our main gunner."
Tiongson, who still managed to chip in 21 despite tight defense from the Bolts, is keeping things in perspective. But he's still hopeful.
"Let's be real. Some of the stars aren't here," he conceded. "We're still playing against quality players, but the Gilas stars aren't here. At the end of the day we can still build off of that, we can better off of that and be better individually.
"Even though it's a game (with no bearing), we treat it like it's a regular season game for preparation. Of course, we're usually the bottom dwellers so we want to take every game seriously and be as cohesive, build chemistry and build confidence."
Added Camson: "That's our main goal. Build a winning attitude. Almost all of our (regular season) games, we were right there but then we'd close in the end game.
"So this is what we want to address. When the fourth quarter comes, we need to win or give ourselves a chance to win."
The Dyip are taking baby steps towards respectability, one game at a time. They're no longer wondering when they'll win their next game. Now they're counting how many they'll get.
"We have three wins now. We have five more games, and hopefully we can win two to three," Cardel said.
"That would be good."