Despite jitters, Newsome makes impact for Bolts in Finals game 1
Meralco’s Chris Newsome vs fellow rookie Scottie Thomspon during the PBA Governors’ Cup Finals. PBA IMAGES
Chris Newsome had never experienced a Finals atmosphere in the Philippines until Friday.
Failing to advance to the championship dance in his three years in Ateneo, the PBA Rookie of the Year frontrunner shrugged off rookie jitters and delivered in the biggest stage in the pro-league.
“It definitely felt great to come out in Game 1 and get the win,” Newsome said after Meralco’s 114-109 Game 1 victory over Ginebra in the 2016 PBA Governors’ Cup Finals.
READ: Meralco trips Ginebra
“Seeing that crowd tonight, having that Finals experience, I really took it all in and, I guess you can say I had jitters, but when that ball went up, it was just playing basketball,” he said.
The high-leaping forward he finished with 17 points, on a 7-of-17 shooting from the field, on top of nine rebounds and nine assists for the Bolts.
“It wasn’t necessarily my best game, I felt I struggled on the field shooting-wise so I tried to find other ways to contribute, get other people involved, crash the rebounds, anything to help this team get the win.”
READ: Roaring Big Dome energizes Durham in 46-point night
Newsome commended team captain Jimmy Alapag for calming the nerves of the Bolts, whose half of players in the roster are on their first Finals appearances.
“Jimmy did a pretty good job of settling us down and telling us that now that the jitters are out, we can try to play Meralco basketball. We can play team basketball which got us where we are right now,” he said.
Meralco did play to its potential, shrugging off a poor first half showing and battling back from 16-points down to stun the crowd darlings in overtime.
READ: Brownlee takes blame for Ginebra’s Game 1 loss to Meralco
More than anything, Meralco proved that it’s capable of beating Ginebra, a team that it has defeated this season until Game 1.
“We never give up, regardless if we’re down by 25 or 30,” Newsome said. “We won’t give up because we feel this is our chance and we want to establish the Meralco team as contenders. We want to let people know that we’re for real.”
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