IT’S been one hell of a season fo far for Chris Newsome.
For the first time, the Fil-Am guard finally got to wear the national colors and later on, won a breakthrough gold medal as part of the men’s 3x3 team to the 30th Southeast Asian Games.
Now he’s looking to cap a rewarding year with the one major thing missing in his PBA career – a championship.
The 29-year-old Newsome gets another shot at winning a title as Meralco arranged a Governors Cup finals series against Barangay Ginebra for the third time in the last four seasons.
The best-of-seven series starts on Tuesday.
“To have a PBA championship, I think that’s definitely the next thing on my list. That’s the only thing that I’m focused on at this point in time,” he said.
Newsome came close to winning his first-ever league championship three years ago when the Bolts forced the Kings to a decisive Game 7 of the season-ending finals, only to fall short in the winner-take-all match, 101-96, played before a record crowd of 54,086 at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan.
But this is the start of a new chapter for the Bolts, according to the former Rookie of the Year.
“The last finals, that’s in the past. The only thing I’m focused on is playing right now in the present moment, one minute at a time, one second at a time, one game at a time. And eventually if you do all those things right in between, then the championship will be ours if its’ meant to be that way,” he stressed.
“All I can control is what I can control. I’m definitely happy to be here, I’m excited to get back out there and show how much I’ve improved since the last finals, and I’m just excited for this organization.”
Newsome did admit the year that was proved to be a big one for him, not only in terms of achievements, but also in terms of personal growth as a player.
“It’s been a great 2019 for me. Personally, I’ve done some things that I’ve always wanted to do. I felt like my game has developed into a place that I kind of dreamed of, but obviously I never felt like I’ve been this confident before in my game,” he said.
“But obviously, that comes with growth and maturity as you start to know yourself and you start to know what you’re really good at and what you need to work on.”
Then again, the bottom line remains winning his first championship with the Bolts.
“I wouldn’t find any more gratification than to be able to win a championship for Meralco,” Newsome stressed.
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