CHRIS Ross may be known for his defense, but it was an offensive play that proved crucial for San Miguel Beer in its 72-71 win against Magnolia in Game Seven of the PBA Philippine Cup finals that completed for the Beermen a historic fifth straight all-Filipino title.
Lost in the din of June Mar Fajardo’s remarkable rebounding and Alex Cabagnot’s dagger shots was Ross’ long three-pointer early in the fourth quarter that proved to be an ominous sign of a reversal in favor of the Beermen.
At the height of SMB’s comeback from a 17-point deficit, Ross – off a broken play – launched a bailout shot from way beyond the arc and at the top of the key that clanged in and pulled the Beermen to within three points, 61-58, with nine minutes and 14 seconds left in the game.
“I wanted to do something because my first half, that was one of the worst halves of basketball I ever played in my life,” the two-time Defensive Player of the Year stressed. “It was so unlike me to come out like that in a game this big.”
After all, 10-year veteran playmaker was held scoreless and committed three turnovers in almost 20 minutes in the first half.
But Ross recovered after halftime and buried his first and only three-point shot in seven attempts that highlighted his play that saw him finish with seven points on 3-of-9 shooting, eight rebounds, one assist, against four turnovers in a game-high 42 minutes on the court.
“I told my teammates at halftime, ‘I’ll be better in the second half, we’ll all be better, and we’ll come back and win,’” the 34-year-old point guard recounted. “Everyone looked at me and shook their head and they had my back, and I had their back, and I had no doubt we’ll come back and make it a game.”
“Because we have each other’s backs,” he was quick to add. “We have a genuine love for each other, and it’s a thing of beauty when you have a locker-room full of guys that no one cares who gets the credit, and there’s just one common goal, and that’s to win.”
After giving credit to the Hotshots for pushing them to the limit, Ross felt the Beermen proved doubters wrong after sustaining their dynasty in the league’s conference that dangles the most prestigious award.
“We read some of the stuff that’s out there about us and when we don’t win championships, there’s articles out there that’s saying, ‘we’re too old’ and ‘we’re past our prime,’ and ‘we can’t win anymore’ and we use all that as fuel,” Ross admitted.
“We’re really self-motivated, but some of those things we use as fuel and we kind of just push through and just fight back,” he added. “We fought adversity, we clawed back, and we used everything.”
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