HUMBLE as ever, Scottie Thompson didn’t even know how to respond when he was reminded that of all the highly-touted guards competing in this Ginebra-Rain or Shine series, he remains to be the only one to win the league’s top individual prize – a Most Valuable Player Award.
While the talk of the town entering in this series were Thompson’s teammate in Best Player of the Conference favorite RJ Abarrientos, and the bevy of Rain or Shine guards from the exciting Adrian Nocum to the inspired Andrei Caracut – the high-flying guard out of Digos, Davao del Sur was just happy to quietly do his job on the side.
READ: Do-it-all Scottie Thompson sparks Ginebra's Game 3 win over ROS
But his Game 3 performance was simply undeniable, as he spearheaded Ginebra’s third-quarter breakaway and finished with a game-high 25 points to go along seven rebounds and three steals in Ginebra’s 103-98 win over the Elasto Painters on Sunday.
“Honestly I don’t know what to say. I’m just truly overwhelmed sa mga ganitong situation,” Thompson responded meekly when asked about his big night.
While Thompson had little to say about himself, his coach Tim Cone did it for him.
Having coached the pride of Perpetual Help ever since he was drafted, Cone continues to marvel at Thompson’s ability to consistently do whatever the team needs in a particular moment.
Most of the time, it’s with his playmaking, rebound and hustle plays. Now called upon to deliver with Abarrientos and Justin Brownlee having rough shooting nights in the first half, Thompson again answered the call.
“There’s nobody better than a guy that comes out and does his job every game and I tell you he does it every practice, too. He comes out, he does his job. He does all the stuff that no one else wants to do. It’s just amazing to watch that day in and day out,” Cone said.
“I’ve had that opportunity for what, seven years? Eight years? 10 years now? It’s been 10 years and I’ve been able to watch it day in and day out. It's an amazing thing. He comes to work, every day, every game.”
Still, Thompson deflected the credit – noting that his big scoring night, where he shot 9-of-13 from the field and 5-of-8 from downtown, was merely a product of Cone's system.
“Yung flow ng offense namin, we were passing the ball and moving without the ball well. So I think it happens na maraming nao-open, especially me,” he said. “All credit sa system and sa mga teammates ko na we were really finding each other and shooting the ball at a high percentage.”
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