ANTIPOLO – Jojo Lastimosa explained why he didn’t call a timeout when TNT captain Jayson Castro asked for one in the dying seconds of the Tropang Giga’s PBA Governors Cup game against Rain or Shine at the Ynares Center on Friday night.
The TNT coach said he found the need to save his final timeout in case the Elasto Painters scored again and tied the tightly-contested game.
“That was a decision I had to make. I don’t want to go into a probably tied ballgame without any more timeouts,” said Lastimosa after the Tropang Giga hacked out a tough 105-100 decision to go up 2-0 in the standings.
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Lastimosa found himself facing such scenario after Rain or Shine import Michael Qualls scored five straight points to trim a seven-point TNT lead down to 102-100.
Shortly after Qualls hit a floating jumper with 46 seconds to play, Castro was seen signaling the TNT bench to call a timeout as they brought the ball down court.
But Lastimosa didn’t heed the call of the veteran superstar as play went on.
“I only had one more timeout left because we called a timeout before that,” said the PBA great turned coach, referring to the full timeout TNT used inside the final two minutes that eventually led to import Jalen Hudson scoring on a basket to give the team that seven-point lead.
“So I trusted the guys to make the right decision.”
They did, as deadly guard Mikey Williams hit the dagger three off Beau Belga to close out the win.
“That was a huge shot by Mikey, no doubt,” Lastimosa said. “Mikey bailed us out tonight on that shot.”
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