RJ JAZUL took the responsibility after he took a long three-pointer in the dying seconds of Phoenix’s match against San Miguel on Saturday at the Philsports Arena.
RJ Jazul on late 3 miss
Jazul had nine points on 3-of-9 from threes in the Fuel Masters’ 108-104 defeat against the Beermen on Saturday. One of his misses though came in the crucial stretch of the match.
With the Fuel Masters down two and 11.8 seconds to work with, Jazul threw up a three with still a few steps away from the line which he missed. San Miguel was able to secure the rebound, leading to CJ Perez draining two free throws to settle the final score.
When asked about the play, Jazul admitted he was forced to take the shot as the intended play did not develop as planned. In hindsight, Jazul said calling a timeout would have been a better option for the team.
“Not that play talaga,” said the 36-year-old Jazul. “Broken play kami. I took the shot. Miss. ‘Yun lang.”
“Siguro I think the situation was there. I think Javee was open for a couple of seconds. But medyo hindi nakita. Marcio was at me. Marami namang situation pero it’s on me pa rin. I’ll take it,” said Jazul.
Jazul though was quick to move on from the miss, vowing that he will learn from that possession in the next games.
“Looking back, siguro I should call a timeout. I think we have one timeout. It’s on me na I shot it. It missed so it’s my fault. Ganun naman ‘yun.”
“I would take the responsibility for that. I will learn from that, those plays. It will make or break you. I’ll be better next time,” said Jazul.
The close defeat sent Phoenix to its third straight defeat to go down to 5-6 win-loss record with one game remaining.
Jazul said the defeat will hopefully fuel the team's desire to win in its last outing in the eliminations against Terrafirma next Saturday.
“I think it can go both ways nung last minute. We were one stop away. One play away before that free throw by CJ. It hurts. It should hurt for us. But at the end of the day, we should bounce back. There’s nowhere to go. If we want to stay alive for a best-of-three, I think we should get the last game,” said Jazul.
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