CHRIS Newsome credited the entire Meralco team for the Game Three win but made special mention of Raymond Almazan and Cliff Hodge for their rebounding presence that has been one of the reasons why the Bolts are ahead in the PBA Philippine Cup Finals.
Newsome got most of the attention in Game Three after nailing the go-ahead three-pointer in the 93-89 victory last Sunday that propelled Meralco to a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven finals.
But during the postgame press conference, Newsome made sure to mention the effort of Almazan and Hodge, who had 13 rebounds each as they helped Meralco outrebound San Miguel, 57-50.
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“Got to give a shoutout to Cliff Hodge and Raymond Almazan,” Newsome said. “They got six and six offensive rebounds, that’s 22 offensive rebounds (for Meralco), and 22 second-chance points. Shoutout to Cliff and Raymond for that.”
“Without those extra possessions, we may have not won this game,” said Newsome.
Meralco has been outrebounding San Miguel throughout the series but the +7 gap is the most in this finals even with June Mar Fajardo hauling 15 rebounds last Sunday.
Rebounding is the focus
“It’s definitely a focus of interest for us,” said Hodge on their rebounding. “We know that if we can dominate the rebounding, we will have a great shot of winning the game. It’s one of our focal points. That’s everybody.”
Aside from his rebounds, Hodge also helped offensively with 10 points on an efficient 5-of-9 clip from the field.
“Even Raymond battled really, really well. All the bigs having to guard June Mar and try to slow him down. I mean he is the best. He is the GOAT of the PBA. It’s a hard job for them to slow him down and they have to box him out. I just try to get as many rebounds as I can,” said Hodge.
Hodge said another reason why he is able to grab multiple rebounds is because his teammates are also doing a good job of boxing out Fajardo.
“I know that the bigs have to box out June Mar. It leaves me to go and grab all the rebounds by myself. It is definitely one of my fortes. I tried to get every rebound I can, as many as I can get for the team,” said Hodge.
Staying away from foul trouble
Aside from Hodge, Almazan also got his offense going with 17 points in a bounce-back game after being in foul trouble in all of Game Two that rendered him ineffective.
The Meralco starting center said he made a conscious effort to stay out of foul trouble so he can crash the boards. In Game Two, Almazan was called for two quick fouls and never made much of an impact after that.
“Nung Game Two kasi, sobrang foul trouble. Walang momentum. Kailangan i-upo kasi kapag foul trouble, ‘yung momentum, wala. Every two minutes, labas ako, foul trouble, and then iniiwasan ko talaga mag-foul trouble para maging aggressive ako sa offensive rebounds. I can save my foul in the fourth quarter.
“‘Yun ang magandang kinalabasan. Total team effort talaga and then we hit a big shot in the last minute of the game, nanalo kami,” said Almazan.
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