TREVIS Jackson won't lose sleep on the 12-foot jumper he muffed which could have given Meralco the win over Blackwater at the end of regulation Sunday.
"I just got to stay confident in my shot. That's something I've been doing my whole life. The fact that coach Norman (Black) trusted me with to take that shot and drew up the play for me to take that shot, it means a lot to me," he said.
With the game tied 85-all, Black drew a play that saw Jackson hold the leather. To his surprise, his defender Mike DiGregorio went down and gave him a lot of breathing room to get his shot up.
Unfortunately, the Fil-Am rookie missed the shot with three seconds to spare as the game went to overtime.
The Bolts did go on and drop their opening assignment, with Blackwater taking the 94-91 overtime win to start the 2019 PBA Commissioner's Cup.
It was a huge blemish for Jackson, who didn't just get the surprise call to start the game, but also racked eight points, three rebounds, and three assists in 26 minutes of action.
But like he said, the ball is now on his court to continue proving himself to the Grand Slam-winning mentor.
"It's up to me to live up to his belief in me," he said. "Of course, I want to make that shot and I envision that shot going in next time. But I'm not going to be too down about it. I'll move on to the next play, like I tell the team whenever anyone does bad because that's all we can do."
That's why Jackson remains upbeat with Meralco's chances in the second conference as it now makes a quick pivot and focus on Columbian on Friday.
"Only up from here," he said. "I'm not going to dwell on anything. I'm gonna come to practice and remind everyone, 'Hey, that's one game.' We know we can play better that. I know I personally can play better than that and I know we expect more from ourselves. We know we can do better and that's all on us."
"I'll take that one personally because I can do better."
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