ARWIND Santos may be glad to be back on the court on Sunday night after a minor finger injury, but the timing was not what he expected.
The San Miguel Beer star admitted he was surprised that coach Leo Austria fielded him in the team’s last offensive play against Ginebra in overtime that ended with the Beermen suffering a 110-107 loss in the PBA Commissioner's Cup.
During a timeout off a Marico Lassiter steal with 11 seconds left and the Beermen only down by two points, Austria drew up a play for a unit that supposedly included Christian Standhardinger. But as the players were set to return to the court, the SMB coach surprisingly called Santos to come in for Standhardinger.
The play ended up in a missed three-point attempt by Chris Ross from way beyond the arc with two seconds left, with Greg Slaughter grabbing the rebound and LA Tenorio drawing a foul to seal the deal from the foul line.
“Nagulat talaga ako nung last play kasi unang-una, hindi ko alam yung play, kasi alam ko tatapusin na ni Christian yun,” Santos admitted. “Para sa akin, bad decision yun dahil hindi naman ako…dapat dun sa play pa lang namin, crucial yun eh, wag ka mag-shuffle, kasi hind ko alam."
“Dapat pinatapos na namin kay Christian yung mga ganun,” he added.
Asked if he knew the reasoning behind Austria’s sudden decision to field him – after being on the bench the entire second half, Santos refused to hazard a guess.
“Hindi ko rin alam,” the former MVP said. “Dapat kung gusto niya ako ipasok, dun pa lang sa play, sinulat na niya yun, para at least alam ko na yung gagawin ko. At alam na rin ng bawat isa. Kahit yung ibang teammates ko naguluhan eh. Tingin ko yun, sayang.”
Still, Santos stuck with the positives about getting playing time as he played five minutes and 12 seconds – mostly in the middle part of the second quarter – dishing out one assist after sitting out their previous game.
“Dahil kahapon lang ako nag-ensayo,” the 38-year-old forward said. “Pero kanina, nage-expect na ako na gamitin na niya ako, kasi ginamit na niya ako eh. Nag-ready naman ako. Kailangan na lang natin respetuhin yun kung hindi ako na-ano…”
“Kaya lang, sayang natalo kami. Siguro next game, malamang, gagamitin na niya ako,” he added.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
