HE'S still grieving but the trooper that he is, Billy Mamaril is totally focused on trying to help San Miguel retain its PBA Commissioner’s Cup championship.
The veteran big man was back on the Beermen’s bench in the team’s best-of-seven title series against Barangay Ginebra, more than a week after the death of his wife, commercial model Christine Bayer-Mamaril.
A day after his wife was laid to rest, Mamaril actually already joined the team in time for the series opener last Friday.
But it was only in last Sunday’s Game Two that SMB coach Leo Austria saw it fit to give the 38-year-old some playing minutes as the Beermen blew off the Kings, 134-109, to tie the series at one-game apiece.
“Yes, just focus on this game, on this series against Ginebra to win (the finals). We have a goal and that’s all we're focused on as a team,” said Mamaril following the game at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The 15-year veteran suited up for only two minutes when the outcome of the match was already beyond doubt and managed to sneak in a basket to join Alex Cabagnot, import Renaldo Balkman, June Mar Fajardo, Marcio Lassiter, rookie Christian Standhardinger, and Arwind Santos in the SMB scoring parade.
Mamaril couldn’t be any more grateful to his San Miguel teammates – and to the entire SMC family for that matter – for being by his side during his wife's illness - and now for helping him recover from the pain of losing a love one.
“With the help of San Miguel, obviously both Ginebra and San Miguel, I was able to go through it the past seven years and really help me out,” said Mamaril, who was also a part of Ginebra in 2006-2010 and from 2010 to 2015.
Mamaril appreciated the gesture of some of his teammates in trying to win the championship for him, but he pointed out the Beermen should aspire to win this one for the whole team.
“It’s not just for me, it’s for every one of us. This is our goal as a team, it’s a team goal,” said the soft-spoken son of former Ginebra center Romulo Mamaril.
And it doesn’t bother him either that he’s going up against his former team Ginebra, where he won two championships.
“Ginebra is my former team, but still, we have goal so I give my 100 percent to San Miguel,” he said.
Mamaril expects the finals to become more interesting with Game 3 to be played on Wednesday also at the Big Dome.
“The last two games were blowouts. So it’s interesting to see what adjustment they do, and what adjustment we do,” he said.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
