LEARNING FROM THEIR MISTAKES
Reggie Williams had 42 points in his first game for San Miguel Beer against Alaska. Sadly, his efforts went for naught as the Beermen dropped that one to the Aces.
After five days, the 27-year-old got a taste of redemption as he finally led San Miguel Beer to a 97-92 win over Rain or Shine on Friday at the 2014 PLDT Home Telpad PBA Governors’ Cup.
The 6-foot-5 swingman had a game-high 29 points and 13 rebounds in the win, which active consultant Todd Purves certainly noticed.
“Reggie has been wonderful so far as a teammate and as a player on and off the floor. I can’t say enough good things about him. He makes the game easier for his teammates because he has a high basketball I.Q. and he’s a very unselfish player,” he said.
Purves added, “He had 29 points tonight and he had 42 in the first game, but he’s a very unselfish player and his teammates understand that, too. The fact that he makes the right basketball plays for us and puts his teammates in a great position (to score), I’m happy about that.”
But for Williams, an NBA vet who had stints with the Golden State Warriors, Charlotte Bobcats, Oklahoma City Thunder, and most recently, with the Houston Rockets, he’s just happy to relish the team’s first win in this short conference.
“It feels good and I’m happy that we’re able to pull out the victory,” he said. “The guys just played well tonight and we stuck together, and we were able to pull out the win.”
Williams said that a big reason for their first win is because almost every one stepped up and avoided the miscues they committed in their Alaska game.
“We just learned from our mistakes from the last game, which were our rebounding and our hustle. Chris (Ross) came up with five steals and he changed the game. June Mar (Fajardo) had 28 points and 18 rebounds, and that was just awesome. We cleaned that up from our last game, not allowing second chance points,” he said.
“Pretty much everybody stepped up. Arwind (Santos), Marcio (Lassiter), almost everybody played well, and we were able to come out with the victory.”
Knowing that the main responsibility on an import-laced conference like this falls squarely on a reinforcement’s shoulders, Williams acknowledged the fact that he could only do so much. And as he reflected on his 24 shots in his first game, his 19 shots in 45 minutes really made one of the difference, as he admitted that the local support is indeed vital in the team’s success
“I played a lot of minutes and tried not to force the issue,” he said. “I tried to play the team game and make sure everybody is happy, and we’re happy with the win.” (RL)
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