MANILA, Philippines – For Chris Newsome, it’s humorous how issues work out.
Newsome steered Meralco to a breakthrough PBA championship in the identical approach they misplaced their first crack on the crown as he sank the game-winner that allowed the Bolts to unseat San Miguel and declare the Philippine Cup throne following an 80-78 win in Recreation 6 on the Araneta Coliseum on Sunday, June 16.
Shrugging off his capturing woes, Newsome drained a baseline jumper with 1.3 seconds remaining to interrupt a 78-78 impasse and ship a franchise starved of an elusive title to jubilation.
It was a shot that one way or the other made up for all of the heartbreaks Meralco suffered by way of the years that started when it fell prey to rival Barangay Ginebra, no due to a Justin Brownlee game-winning triple in Recreation 6 of the 2016 Governors’ Cup finals.
The Bolts went on to lose to the Gin Kings within the championship spherical three extra occasions earlier than lastly getting the job performed by dethroning the mighty Beermen.
“Fairly attention-grabbing the way it performed out like that,” mentioned Newsome, who completed with 15 factors, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and a pair of steals.
“My first finals really damage rather a lot. It really confirmed me rather a lot on what I can do higher and what I have to do higher as a participant, as an expert,” he added. “With out all these failures, I don’t suppose I’d be the participant that I’m in the present day.”
Newsome fired blanks earlier than his endgame heroics.
He missed his first seven photographs and entered the ultimate minute having made simply 3 of his 16 discipline objectives.
It didn’t assist that the momentum swung in favor of San Miguel after June Mar Fajardo capped a blistering 20-9 run by draining an unlikely three-pointer with 3.3 ticks left that knotted the rating at 78-78.
However all of the ache Newsome endured prior to now ready him for the second.
“It’s a shot that I labored on on a regular basis, I put 1000’s of reps into that shot. For lots of men on the market, it’d look like it’s simply luck, however on the identical time, that’s one thing that I work on day by day. So to me and the opposite guys within the locker room, it’s no shock that it went in,” mentioned Newsome.
“The story behind it’s simply to have braveness, to have the ability to attempt issues and even in case you fail, it’s okay as a result of you possibly can nonetheless study from it, you possibly can proceed to develop, and it’ll make you a greater individual on the finish of the day,” he added.
“I realized from all my failures. I failed in opposition to Ginebra loads of occasions within the finals and in these failures, that allowed me to push and elevate my sport. You noticed it repay in the present day.”
On prime of his first title, Newsome additionally earned the Finals MVP honors as he emerged because the clear-cut winner after averaging 22.5 factors, 5.3 rebounds, and 4.5 assists in six video games.
Allein Maliksi backstopped Newsome with 14 factors off the bench and Chris Banchero posted a close to triple-double of 10 factors, 8 rebounds, and eight assists as he received his first championship eventually after six finals losses – three of them in opposition to San Miguel again when he nonetheless performed for Alaska.
Bong Quinto added 11 factors, Raymond Almazan provided 9 factors, 10 rebounds, and a pair of blocks, whereas Cliff Hodge chimed in 6 factors, 6 rebounds, and a pair of blocks.
“I’m proud the man stepped up. We went by way of a variety of adversity, a variety of robust occasions,” mentioned Meralco head coach Luigi Trillo. “It is extremely fulfilling for us. It was not prefer it was straightforward time all the best way. We actually needed to earn this one.”
Fajardo churned out 21 factors, 12 rebounds, and 5 assists for the Beermen, because the Finest Participant of the Convention misplaced in an All-Filipino finals for the primary time since he joined the storied franchise in 2012.
CJ Perez tallied 14 factors, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists, whereas Marcio Lassiter and Mo Tautuaa contributed 11 and 9 factors, respectively, within the dropping effort.
The Scores
Meralco 80 – Newsome 15, Maliksi 14, Quinto 11, Banchero 10, Almazan 9, Caram 6, Torres 6, Hodge 6, Bates 3, Rios 0.
San Miguel 78 – Fajardo 21, Perez 14, Lassiter 11, Tautuaa 10, Romeo 9, Trollano 7, Ross 1, Enciso 0, Teng 0, Cruz 0, Brondial 0
Quarters: 29-18, 47-40, 63-58, 80-78.
– Rappler.com
