The weight of missing an opportunity to give TNT the upper hand in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals was not lost on Rondae Hollis-Jefferson last Sunday night.
The Tropang Giga import, who was the last to exit the team’s locker room at Mall of Asia Arena, even took responsibility for the 71-70 defeat that allowed Barangay Ginebra to even the best-of-seven championship series to a game apiece.
“You know, we played some really solid defense. But credit to Ginebra, they played excellent defense and made it really tough for us,” the resident reinforcement said in a candid chat with reporters.
“Very, very poor shooting on our behalf, but you got to give credit to those guys,” he added of the Gin Kings. “They wanted to win, they played hard, and they got the job done.”
The botched chance actually pressed even heavier for Hollis-Jefferson, who had two chances to put his squad up front inside the final 32 seconds of the nip-and-tuck affair witnessed by 12,925 fans.
A bona fide scorer who can sink virtually any kind of shot, Hollis-Jefferson was smothered by Ginebra’s Stephen Holt, Scottie Thompson and Jamie Malonzo, who all played relentless defense in those two sequences in the crunch.
“I’ll probably watch the shots 20 times. The two possessions I didn’t even get a shot in? That’s on me,” said the former NBA starter who steered TNT to its last two crowns.
Loss is a loss
“[But] that’s something I want to get better or grow from. I’ll watch it. I’ll watch it. I’m not afraid to see where I messed up, or where I made a mistake. Hopefully, Chot [Reyes] calls me out on it, but I’m good—it’s all about getting better,” he said.
Hollis-Jefferson, who finished with 25 points and 15 rebounds in the match, wasn’t too keen on putting a positive spin on the loss, taking the result for what it truly was: A defeat.
“I mean, not really. They got the win,” he said when asked if Ginebra’s struggles and the slim margin provided some sort of consolation. “It don’t [sic] matter how they got it. They got the win.”
Hollis-Jefferson then set his sights on Game 3, which will be played this Wednesday at PhilSports Arena. But not without reaffirming his faith in himself and his teammates—like Roger Pogoy and Calvin Oftana—who were also frosty that night.
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“It’s all about believing in yourself first, and your teammates believing in you as well,” he said. “They got the win, so we look at it it’s even, 1-1. Back to the drawing board.” INQ
