WITH seconds remaining in Game 2 of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals, Scottie Thompson did what he does best: he chased after a Justin Brownlee miss, beat several TNT players to the ball, and corralled the offensive rebound which would have sealed the deal for Barangay Ginebra.
Except that it didn’t – at least during that time.
Thompson threw an errant pass which led straight to the hands of Calvin Oftana, leaving the window open for TNT to steal the victory away from Ginebra and break the hearts of the thousands of ka-Barangays in attendance once more.
Luckily for him and the rest of the Gin Kings’ faithful, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson wasn’t able to put up a shot in time, allowing Ginebra to take the hard-earned win and tie the best-of-seven series at one apiece.
Well, ‘luckily’ shouldn’t even be the term for it as Thompson himself had a hand in forcing the late RHJ blunder.
Thompson timed his help so well, double-teaming off of RR Pogoy just in time to disrupt the prolific import off the spin, while leaving no time for the NBA vet to kick out to Pogoy as the game clock expired and the cauldron that was the MoA Arena erupted in cheers.
READ: Clutch Brownlee averts Ginebra collapse vs TNT in Game Two
Just a couple of possessions before that, after Brownlee put Ginebra ahead 71-70 – Thompson did the same exact thing only on the opposite wing, helping off Rey Nambatac perfectly to block the curling RHJ’s path, giving enough time for Stephen Holt to recover before scurrying back at his man to make sure that no open threes were given up.
And while Thompson may have taken the blame if things went the other way, it shouldn’t undermine the value of the former PBA MVP in this series especially with the way things are being played right now – a virtual grind out which falls right into the high-motor guard’s style of play.
READ: Scottie accepts blame for errant pass in Game 2 that nearly cost Ginebra
While most of the credit will go to Holt and Jamie Malonzo for making life hell for RHJ, and rightfully so, there are the little things that Thompson does that aren’t necessarily being noted but should be highlighted – the perfectly timed help, the disruptive taps, the shows and reads that allow RHJ’s primary defender to finish the job on him.
When Holt credited ‘team defense’ after being asked about his awesome defensive stance against the two-time Best Import, he wasn’t merely being humble – that has been the objective case, and most of it comes from all the little things Thompson does on the perimeter.
READ: Stephen Holt refuses to take credit for defense on RHJ in Game 2
And as far as the numbers are concerned, Thompson has easily been the best local on both teams in this PBA Finals, the third best player just behind the incredible reinforcements in Brownlee and RHJ.
So far, Thompson is putting up averages of 16.5 points per game on 51.8 percent shooting, 12.5 boards and seven assists in nearly 42 minutes of basketball a night.
With Holt focused on defense, their gunners in Malonzo and RJ Abarrientos misfiring and Troy Rosario still to fully recover from an ankle sprain, Thompson was once again tasked to be more aggressive on offense.
From his patented drives, his ability to get open by moving without the ball, the hustle in getting those second chance points and the occasional threes here and there, Thompson has done his part to complement JB on the offensive end.
And in a series where there isn’t much offense, that may very well just be enough.
This series has old school written all over it. Low-scoring. Highly physical with occasional brush-ups between players, and even fans, as emotions go through the roof.
And perhaps there isn’t a more ‘old-school’ player in there than Thompson himself – a guy who’s made a career out of getting rebounds, hustling for extra possessions, making the correct reads on both offense and defense and unafraid to get physical when it gets down to it.
With the series down to a virtual best-of-five, things could still go either way for both teams, leaving many sleepless nights for coach Tim Cone and coach Chot Reyes in the coming days.
But for sure, coach Tim is sleeping a little easier knowing that he’s got Thompson in his side.
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