The Sol Train finally finds a stop
Before landing with Barangay Ginebra San Miguel two seasons ago, Sol Mercado had made three stops, as teams struggled to give him a niche he could grow in. But all Mercado wanted was to be trusted.
And once he landed in Ginebra, he quickly embraced the long history of the team and its Never Say Die culture. The 32-year-old showed it during their classic seven-game semifinals series with Star.
Even if they had been down 0-2 and 2-3, the Gin Kings did not give up as they overcame those deficits, capped by an 89-76 Game Seven win. In those two games, the nine-year league veteran averaged 22.0 points, 4.5 assists, and 1.5 steals while making the big shots that helped stave-off the Hotshots.
For Mercado, it’s just about fighting until he ‘can’t fight no more’.
“That’s kind of our culture, right? Never say die.
“We just lay it on the line when our backs are against the wall. We just try to stay focused on what we need to do and play our hearts out and lately the result has been a win,” the 32-year-old Filipino-American said.
The 6-foot-1 guard got Ginebra to a rousing start, scoring 7 of his 23 points during the opening frame. He finished the game with 23 points, four rebounds, and five assists. But more importantly, he helped shut down Paul Lee.
After helping limit the six-foot gunslinger to just eight points on 3-of-13 shooting and two turnovers in Game Six, Lee struggled in Game Seven, finishing the game with just four points on 2-of-8 shooting.
Even if he was the man assigned to lock down Lee, Mercado deflected the credit to his teammates.
“I’ve been saying it all series, it’s not me. I’m just the guy in the front and it’s a total team effort.
“We really focused on Paul because he’s the key to their team so it was definitely a group effort. Whenever I was in the front on him off a ball screen, we always had a guy eyeing him and everyone collapsing on him making him a passer,” he reflected.
And the Sacramento native is doing all of this just to repay the trust his mentor is giving to him.
“Coach Tim puts a lot of trust in me to be one of the leaders of this team and I’m just grateful for the opportunity he’s given me every game to be on the court and the confidence and the trust that he puts in me.
“It goes a long way. When you have the winning-est coach in the PBA puts a lot of trust in you, it gives you a lot of confidence to play,” the 6-foot-1 combo guard declared.
After all these years, the Sol Train finally finds a stop.
