Manila, Philippines – Talk ’N Text guard Jayson Castro says they just have to put behind them that painful loss in Game 3 and focus instead in Game 4 today of the PLDT Home TVolution PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals against San Mig Super Coffee.
“Move on na lang,” said Castro Tuesday night after a 77-75 defeat, which put the Tropang Texters in a 1-2 hole in the best-of-five title series. “It’s a must win for us so our focus is Game 4; we have to win that game.”
Castro, who earned his second Best Player of the Conference award prior to the game, actually had a chance to win it for TNT but missed a game-winning three-point shot as time expired.
The 5-foot-10 guard led the Tropang Texters with 21 points but struggled with his shooting, converting just 8-of-24 including 3-of-11 from three-point territory. He also had seven rebounds.
“Maganda naman ‘yung release ko, kaso nag-miss lang nga. Siguro talagang para sa kanila ‘yung panalo sa Game 3. Bawi kami in Game 4 and hopefully ma-extend namin sa winner-take-all (Game 5),” said Castro.
TNT guards Jimmy Alapag and Larry Fonacier, both scoreless as they misfired with their triples, both begged off to be interviewed as they hurriedly left the Big Dome.
Talk ’N Text import Richard Howell, on the other hand, said that they – as a team – were partly to blame with the setback.
“They jumped on us early, they came out and punched us in the mouth for 11-2 (lead), I think,” said Howell as San Mig Super Coffee took a 25-15 advantage after the opening quarter.
“That’s something we have to fix, we can’t let them get out and get that type of confidence, especially throughout the whole game,” added the 6-foot-9 Howell, named Best Import of the Conference.
Howell said it’s understandable that pressure is on their side, but he is confident they can win Game 4 with total team effort.
“The pressure is definitely on us,” said Howell, who scored just 10 points to go with 22 rebounds. “We just have to come out and just play hard. We got to bring our energy back and we got to play defense.” (Waylon Galvez)