By MARK REY MONTEJO
Magnolia import Tyler Bey knew the importance of making the right adjustments especially on their defense that led to a huge turnaround on the way to winning Game 3 of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals series against San Miguel.
Putting all his focus in shadowing SMB import Bennie Boatwright on the defensive end, Bey said he did not mind sacrificing his offense as long as the Hotshots came out with the win.
“It’s the playoffs so I’m just really giving it my all. I just played through whatever it is. Whatever coach asks me to do, I’m gonna do it. I just had to step up tonight, we don’t want to go down 0-3,” Bey said after Magnolia’s 88-80 win over San Miguel on Wednesday, Feb. 7.
Bey only had 11 points and six rebounds – a far cry from his 22 points in Game 1 and 26 points in Game 2 but that hardly mattered for the 25-year-old forward as he managed to limit Boatwright to a measly 9-of-29 clip from the field.
“He can give us his defensive schemes. It’s up to us to pay attention to the little details, San Miguel all around is a great team,” he added.
“Tyler Bey did a good job on Boatwright [defensively] but everyone stepped up on [the] defensive end,” Magnolia head coach Chito Victolero said of Bey.
Mark Barroca and the rest of the Hotshots picked up the slack on the offensive end with the veteran guard finishing with 20 points to lead four other locals in double-figures – a new found fight which Bey credited to the two-day break they had before Game 3.
“It’s very important. It’s always good to take care of your body and just have time to lock in on the things we did wrong from the last game . We took advantage of that today,” Bey concluded.
