CALVIN Oftana believes the law of averages simply caught up with him as he turned out to be the missing link for TNT in a 116-102 loss to Barangay Ginebra in Game Three of the PBA 50th Season Commissioner’s Cup Finals on Sunday.
Coming off a season-high 31 points in their Game 2 win, the TNT star was held scoreless in the first half and came up with just two points on eight attempts in almost 31 minutes as a starter, leaving Tropang 5G trailing the best-of-seven series again, 2-1.
“Ganun talaga, ganun lang buhay, hindi araw-araw Pasko,” Oftana said. “Masama yung tulog ngayon. Pero yun, I feel bad lang sa team na wala akong natulong ngayon.”
“Hindi naman permanente na maganda yung tulog eh. So bawi na lang next game,” he added.
Asked if he was nursing an injury, Oftana insisted he’s healthy – although he looked like he was limping when he came out of their dugout at the Mall of Asia Arena and chose to wear slippers while holding on to his casual sneakers.
“Wala, wala. Walang ininda. Di ko ma-rason yun,” Oftana said. "Di ko pwede i-rason yun. Sama talaga ng laro. Wala akong natulong sa team.”
Oftana's night turned from bad to worse when he committed a turnover off an errant pass in the fourth quarter that seemed to douse the Tropang 5G’s momentum of a late run, leaving coach Chot Reyes fuming and immediately taking him out of the game.
Oftana played down the argument.
“Ganun naman talaga kami ni coach Chot. Dati pa naman yan,” Oftana said. “Sobrang intense ng laro. Nagkamali ako. Sabi ko, ‘Mali ko, coach.’ Nagkasagutan lang. Pero normal naman yun sa isang team. Ang ayaw nyo lang yung is didibdibin mo yun hanggang pag-uwi mo.”
“Nire-respeto ko si coach Chot sa mga decision niya every time, nung dumating pa ako sa Talk ‘N Text. I believe in my coach kung ano yung decision niya. Nagkamali ako doon. Inaako ko yun,” he added.
Oftana stuck to the positives as import Chris McCullough put up his best game yet in his PBA return, dropping 44 points on 16-of-30 shooting from the field, while Roger Pogoy added 28 markers, built around seven triples.
“Kailangan lang namin tulungan si C-Mac talaga. Ngayon si Roger [Pogoy]. Sobrang ganda ng laro ni Roger ngayon. Us lang talaga yung locals na maging consistent sa every game. Kasi championship naman, finals to,” Oftana said.
“Right now talaga ako yung – kahit hindi sabihin – inaako ko yung mali ko ngayon. Di ako napag-contribute sa team.”
“Bawi na lang next game. Buti na lang may second chance pa, may ilang games pa. So makakabawi,” he added.
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