MAYS-TER EVERYWHERE
After a foul-plagued debut for San Mig Super Coffee which saw him finish with 15 points and six rebounds in their win against GlobalPort, 6-foot-9 reinforcement James Mays showed what made coach Tim Cone’s head turn and select him to be their import for the Commissioner’s Cup as he chalked up 29 points and 29 rebounds to give the Mixers a 90-80 win over crowd favorite Barangay Ginebra San Miguel on Sunday.
“James was a monster on the boards, and a monster on the hustle,” Cone said. “His activity level was where we want him to be. He’s everywhere.”
“We call Marqus (Blakely) as Mr. Everything. I think we can call James Mays as Mr. Everywhere, because he was everywhere on the court. If he continues playing with that energy level, we can really be a contender this conference,” the winningest coach in PBA history said.
But for Mays, all the credit his coach gave him is because of his teammates.
“I just tried to play hard, but I owe it all to my teammates because they encouraged me in practice. They’ve been pushing me more because they know what I can do,” Mays said. “I’m just glad they had a lot of confidence in me. And for me, all I had to do was play hard and everything fell into place.”
The 28-year-old bared that he was hard on himself after a paltry first game.
“I was kind of down in the last game because I wasn‘t able to perform the way I wanted to. But we got the win, and that’s all that matters,” he said.
Asked about his reaction on what Cone said in the post game press conference, Mays said, “That’s a great compliment coming from coach. They got a lot of good imports come here before me.”
Mays’ short interview with the sports scribes after the game was cut short though by no less than Cone himself, as he “assisted” Mays in his very urgent appointment.
“James has to get his girlfriend to the airport. She’s leaving so he has to go. He’s in a hurry,” Cone said in jest, which prompted Mays to make his way to the exit.
Talk about living up to the moniker Mr. Everywhere. (RL)
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