SUNDAY saw another heroic game-winning performance for Jayson Castro, but this one will go down as the closest of all.
Castro beat the buzzer by the slimmest of margins, lifting TNT to an 86-84 win over San Miguel in Game One. The TNT guard drained a pull-up jumper, later determined by the referees to have gotten off just before the clock read 0.0, in the dramatic victory.
Recalling the attempt, Castro said he knew in his mind that he got the shot off in time, but also recognized that, at the end of the day, it will be the referees who will determine if the basket counts.
“Nasa referee naman ‘yun kung ano nakita nila,” said Castro. “Sa akin naman, alam ko naman na natira ko siya before ng buzzer. Pero siyempre, nasa referee’s decision pa rin ‘yun.”
[READ: Castro resurgence can't convince him to reconsider Gilas retirement]
Nevertheless, Castro continued his late-game heroics for TNT. During the semifinals, Castro also nailed a jumper with 2.4 seconds left to beat Magnolia, 93-92, in Game Three.
The TNT guard played down his role as the team turned to him once again for the final shot.
“Tinira ko lang, pumasok,” Castro said. “Maganda rin ‘yung play ni coach. Actually, para sana kay Pogoy ‘yun. Napasakto lang na wide-open ako.”
“Hindi naman, napapasakto lang. Tsaka ‘yung confidence ng team ko at ng coaches ko. Kailangan ko lang itira kasi napunta sa akin ‘yung bola,” he said.
More than the game-winner though, Castro said TNT needs to move on from the victory and focus on what went wrong in Game One where the Tropang GIGA were forced to come back from 15 points down to take the victory.
“Sobrang sama ng first half namin kasi ang dami naming turnovers kung makikita niyo sa stats. Ang dami rin naming mga missed free throws. Kailangan din namin i-fix ‘yung defense namin as a team. Nug irst half, hindi kami nagko-communicate sa defense. ‘Yung main problem is ‘yung turnovers namin,” said Castro.
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