TAKE away Stephen Holt’s hot start in the first quarter of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals Game 3 but keep everything else, including the result which had Ginebra beating TNT 116-102, and he’ll head home and sleep soundly knowing that he’s done his job for his squad.
That Holt hit his first six shots enroute to a personal conference-best 23 points to ultimately set the tone for Ginebra’s breezy win was only a bonus for the Fil-American wing cause he knows that his work goes beyond his scoring, especially as he’s tasked to lead from the defensive end.
READ Cone asserts Holt still 'impactful' even when he's not scoring
“At the end of the day, I’m here to win. The mission’s a championship – it’s not really whether I had a good game or a bad game, I’m trying to contribute in multiple areas,” Holt said.
“I’m one of the main leaders of the team, just got to keep working, keep uplifting everybody, it’s really a life lesson, I couldn’t feel sorry for myself, I just had to keep working and stay ready and I knew one of these games was gonna happen eventually.”
Holt’s been under scrutiny from the faithful, ride-or-die but often critical Ginebra fans as his scoring’s gone way down this conference.
It was further highlighted with his two duds offensively in the first two games of the finals series where he took a grand total of five shots in two games, missed all of it to finish with just a solitary point in the first two games combined.
In the first quarter alone, he already matched his total shot attempts for the series – made all of them – and nearly outscored the entire TNT team 15-16 in that stretch.
But Holt shared that his rise in aggression wasn’t really because of the fans’ growing frustration towards his offense – it’s basically his coach Tim Cone calling his number offensively and him answering the call.
“No, I mean, I just go out and compete and work,” Holt responded when asked if the fans’ frustrations online have gotten to him.
“My teammates know my value, my coaches know my value in this group. Whenever I had the opportunity like I had tonight, I was able to step up when the ball found me, we made some tactical adjustments for me to be able to have the ball in my hands and I was able to deliver.”
But at the end of the day, the 34-year-old knows he’s been effective for Ginebra this series, especially with how he’s been defending Calvin Oftana.
In Game 3, Holt helped limit Oftana to 1-8 shooting after the Cebuano star’s hot shooting Game 2 where he fired 31 points in a match where the Gin Kings decided to put Holt on RR Pogoy instead.
Safe to say, whether he’s scoring or not, Holt certainly finds multiple ways to make an impact in a game.
“That’s the challenge for us with our game plan. Game 1, I was able to hold Oftana pretty low and that’s when Pogoy went off. Game 2 we switched the match-ups and that’s when Oftana was able to go off,” Holt said.
“We switched back to Oftana to Game 3 and we were able to control him. So we just have to find that second defender to whoever I’m not guarding.”
With Holt just two wins away from winning his first-ever PBA crown, there’s no extra-pressure for him. It’s all about finding a way to live in the moment, savor the big stage and compete until the final buzzer sounds.
“We definitely feel confident, but again the work’s not done. We’re super excited to compete and restart these next three games in five days when it starts on Wednesday.”
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