HE couldn’t make a measly layup, so he made up for it by taking it up a notch and go for a dunk.
Not just one, but two slams in back-to-back plays worthy to be in the highlight reel.
Chris Newsome said he was motivated by a missed shot from point-blank range near the end of the first half that triggered his two vicious rim-rattlers in the fourth quarter of Meralco’s 119-113 win over TNT Katropa in Game Three of their PBA Governors’ Cup semifinal series.
“At the end of the first half, I missed a layup and it wasn't ‘til then that I realized how high, close I was to the rim,” Newsome recounted. “I realized I could get up there if given the opportunity again so I saw the opportunity and decided to take it.”
The first one was off a strong drive over TNT import Mychal Ammons, who came in averaging 1.5 blocks in the playoffs, that sent the crowd wild, then the next was an impressive a left-handed jam over Ranidel de Ocampo.
Newsome said he liked the first one better.
“(The first one) felt a lot faster,” the rookie playmaker said. “I had to take off with one leg to get it there. The other one, it felt a little slowed down because I think I used a two-foot so I was able to gather myself and get up in the air and hang there for a little bit.”
“So yeah, the first one was the one that caught me by surprise,” he added.
The two dunks embellished a second straight stellar showing by Newsome, who finished with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, eight assists, and three boards in almost 38 minutes, while putting up a solid defensive job on TNT superstar Jayson Castro.
“It's real tough. He's the best point guard in Asia for a reason,” Newsome said of Castro. “I take it as a challenge, me being a rookie and get to defend one of my idols. It's kind of like a dream come true , but at the same sense, we're both competitors and I get to show that I really want to compete in this league and this level.”
“Whatever the team needs me to do, I try to focus on that,” he added.
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