MAVERICK Ahanmisi vowed to show more aggressiveness to put Rain or Shine in a much better position to dispatch Alaska in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals, which resumes with Game Six on Wednesday night at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
The rookie playmaker was the missing link in the Elasto Painters’ 86-78 loss in Game Five last Sunday, when he was held to a solitary point as he missed all his four shots in 22 minutes after scattering a career-high 30 points in Game Four.
Ahanmisi, who did have four boards and three assists, insisted that it was his lack of aggressiveness – more than Alaska’s defense - which led to his disappearing act on offense as the E-Painters, as a unit, wound up with their lowest output in four conferences.
“It (Alaska defense) wasn’t anything special,” the third overall pick in the last Draft said after practice on Tuesday. “I feel like I was unaggressive last game. That’s one on me.”
“Don’t get me wrong, they’re a great defensive team,” he was quick to add. “But I was just not aggressive and I got to bring more intensity.”
[See Belga promises to behave in Game Six]
Ahanmisi also cited the Aces’ pick-and-roll defense that has seen big men Rob Dozier or Sonny Thoss helping on the E-Painters’ playmakers – as reason for the lane getting clogged.
“They’re really waiting ‘til the guards get the ball out of their hands, but, like I said, there’s no excuse for being a point guard and being unaggressive,” the Filipino-Nigerian guard said. “I wasn’t aggressive enough.”
Ahanmisi and the rest of the E-Painters showed their aggressiveness in a high-intensity training session on the eve of Game Six.
“We’re just coming in ready to play tomorrow and hopefully the same intensity trickles over to tomorrow’s game,” he said. “We made some adjustments. We’re playing well. We just got to finish the game off.”
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