BIG BUCKETS FROM BIG BEAU
“Swerte.”
That’s all Beau Belga could say after Rain or Shine forced a do-or-die Game 5 in their best-of-five semifinal series against Alaska with a 123-121 overtime victory in the 2014 PLDT Home Telpad PBA Governors’ Cup semifinals Thursday.
“Swerte kami in a way na para sa akin, talo na kami eh,” he said, recounting on those tense moments where JVee Casio slipped on a fastbreak play with 33.9 seconds remaining, which could have iced the game and the series for the Aces.
“All alone si JVee tapos nadulas. Swerte lang kami today.”
But the big man paid tribute to the efforts of his teammates to pull out the win.
“We’ll take it,” Belga said, who had a career-high 21 points and 10 rebounds in the win.
“Ito naman yung gusto namin eh. May Game 5 na inilaan sa amin so di na namin pakakawalan. Nagkaroon kami ng chance, nagkaroon ng konting butas papuntang Finals so we’ll take it.”
The Extra Rice, Inc. center was instrumental in the win, his last two baskets allowing Rain or Shine to tie the game at 121 with 1:05 left, and setting the final count in the last 12.7 ticks.
The E-Painters survived the game, even though they squandered a 19-point first half lead and couldn’t put the game away in regulation even though Alaska import Henry Walker was sent packing halfway through the payoff period.
“Yun lang din ang nagiging sakit namin eh. Pag lumalayo kami, nagkakakumpyansa, nagre-relax kami. Minsan yun yung nagiging cause ng pagkatalo namin,” Belga said. “Sana maging lesson sa amin yun, na come Game 5, we can’t afford to have a good lead tapos mahahabol kami, tapos magkakaroon pa ng overtime.”
It was as physical as it could get, with lots of skirmishes happening, not to mention the trash talking going on all the time.
But for Belga, this heated confrontation just gives the edge to the E-Painters all the more.
“We’re ready sa mga ganung klase ng ballgame. Physical game is always acceptable sa team namin,” he said. “Kami sa practice, pisikal kami. Kami-kami nagkakasakitan pero di kami nagagalit kasi yun yung game namin at yun yung magiging advantage namin sa mga ballgames. Pag naging pisikal at naging mas intense, mas ok. Yun ang mas gusto namin.”
With the focus now shifting to the winner-take-all engagement on Saturday, Belga hopes that the team will learn from the mistakes they committed in Game 4.
“I’m sure magiging lesson sa amin ‘to. Pag-aaralan namin yung mga mistakes namin and we’ll try to improve on our game.” (RL)
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