AFTER a horror Game One where Ginebra dealt San Miguel a 28-point beatdown, Renaldo Balkman made sure never to go through the same humiliation again.
In Balkman’s 12 years as a pro which has taken him to from the big lights of the NBA to South America toSoutheast Asia, Balkman said he has never experienced a loss that humiliating.
It’s a loss that he doesn’t want to encounter again.
“Like I told my guys in the locker room, I’ve never… I’ve never in life got beat that bad and got embarrassed. Embarrassed,” said Balkman following the Beermen’s 134-109 win in Game Two of the PBA Finals.
“So guess what. We came out here in practice, and got what we do. Nobody was sitting out. We came out in practice the next day. We prepared, came out, and at the end of the day, we won. Same thing tomorrow,” said Balkman.
The 6-foot-8 reinforcement finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds in the win, though with the way his teammates were playing – it looks like Balkman’s motivation were all that his team needed.
Now Balkman is hoping that they retain the same fire moving forward.
“I need the same energy from everyone, you know what I mean? They beat us… they beat us in the first game. I need the same energy. We came out here with a bang. We came out with a win,” Balkman continued.
“My guys did great tonight. We had a great shot. We started early with a lot of intensity, lot of energy. I need the same thing from ya’all. Please.”
The most impressive thing for Balkman in this game is how he managed to keep his cool, even after getting a bit heated with the referees when he was called for his fifth foul.
But the returning import stayed composed and that paid dividends for him and for his team this time around.
“At the end of the day, you got to stay professional. Basketball is tough sometimes, especially when you’re down like that. Cause you know, we were in the same predicament in Game One. Tempers get flared but you got to stay professional,” Balkman said.
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