IT appears Aldrech Ramos always plays his best when with the KIA franchise.
This season, Ramos' career has taken a reboot and is doing so well again in his second foray with Terrafirma.
That was in obvious on display Saturday night when the big man out of Far Eastern University saved the Dyip from the jaws of defeat and guided them past Rain or Shine in overtime, 112-106, to make the win column of the PBA Governors Cup.
Ramos finished with 12 points, nincluding 10 in the fourth period and overtime play, as he conspired with veteran Alex Cabagnot and import Antonio Hester in rallying the Dyip back from as many as a 10-point deficit in regulation to hack out the inspiring win.
It was the 6-foot-6 forward who sent the game into overtime by converting a three to knot the count at 98-all with seven seconds left in the fourth.
Later in the extra period, he scored five straight points including a triple to put the Dyip in front for good, 108-104.
"Open tayo e. Yun ang trabaho natin. Ibinigay sa akin yung shot na yun, kaya tinake ko na," he said of that two game-changing three-pointers which he made.
The 33-year-old power forward added everyone is actually given the go signal by coach John Cardel to take a shot especially when they're open.
"Yung team naman namin free-flowing. So equal opportunity kaming lahat. Lahat kami puwedeng umiskor at tumira basta open, walang problema," he added.
Opportunity is one thing he gets whenever he plays for the KIA franchise.
Aldrech Ramos in comfortable territory
During his first stint with the team in 2015-16, Ramos posted the best scoring average of his PBA career by posting 13.3 points per game during the season.
But when he was finally getting comfortable with the then Mahindra ballclub, Ramos was traded to the Purefoods franchise for big guard Alex Mallari.
Ramos did win a championship with Magnolia in the 2018 Governors' Cup, but was hardly utilized as frontcourt backup.
Then in 2019, he was sent back to Terrafirma by Magnolia in exchange for Jackson Corpuz in a one-on-one deal.
Stats-wise, Ramos again delivered for Terrafirma, raising his average to 8.7 points per game in last year's Philippine Cup inside the Clark bubble following a so-so stint with the Hotshots.
This year, he's been balling anew for the Dyip as part of its core unit with Juami Tiongson, Andreas Cahilig, Matt Ganuelas-Rosser, Reden Celda, JP Calvo, Eric Camson, and Roosevelt Adams.
Even Ramos is perplexed why he's been playing well for the KIA franchise but could not approximate the same with other teams.
"Hindi ko nga alam talaga e. Parang dito talaga lumalabas yung game ko," he said.
"Siguro ito talaga yung bahay ko."
Hopefully so.
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