MAVERICK Ahanmisi is cherishing the rare PBA Finals spotlight so much that he won’t hesitate to take pressure-packed shots down the stretch for Barangay Ginebra.
In his first finals appearance in almost a decade or since the 2016 Commissioner’s Cup with Rain or Shine, the 33-year-old guard proved it by hitting a dagger four-pointer that took the fight out of TNT in the Gin Kings’ 106-92 Game Four win that tied the Governors’ Cup Finals at two apiece.
“These are the things you dream of as a kid when you grow up: playing in the finals,” the Filipino-Nigerian playmaker said.
“I know for a lot of Filipino kids, it’s playing for Ginebra, especially, in the finals, so this is a big deal for me, too.”
READ: Chot rues Holt, Ahanmisi a thorn on side of TNT in Game Four
With Ginebra up by just seven points with over two minutes left, Ahanmisi pounced on a scrambling Tropang Giga defense that chose to focus on a rolling Justin Brownlee. As he found himself open, Ahanmisi launched a four-point shot from top of the key that gave Ginebra a 101-90 lead with 2:32 left and rocked the packed Big Dome.
“It was a top pick-and-roll, JB slipping, and both of the defenders went to JB, so I felt there was some daylight to shoot it. and we weren’t really getting much movement at that time, so I just took it. It was open. I’m glad it went in,” Ahanmisi said.
The third overall pick in the 2015 PBA Draft had been deferring to Brownlee and the other Ginebra stars in the first two games, averaging 8.5 points on 6.5 attempts as the Gin Kings went down, 0-2.
Then he felt it was time to embrace the spotlight more, scattering 16 points on 10 attempts in their Game Three win, then tying Japeth Aguilar and Stephen Holt as the top-scoring Ginebra locals in Game Four with 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
Ahanmisi scored half of his total output in the fourth quarter and finished just two rebounds shy of a double-double, on top of three assists, and two steals without a turnover in 32 minutes.
“(I just take) what the defense is giving me. I feel like the first two games, I wasn’t really hunting for my shots as much. And they had a good defensive gameplan on me, so I’m just trying to read what they’re doing,” he said.
And when he finds himself free, he’ll take it in a heartbeat.
“It’s been eight years since I’ve been in this situation, so I’m trying to take full advantage of it,” the 33-year-old guard added.
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