Aaron Black hardly showed jitters in his PBA Finals debut.
The second-generation cager on Wednesday night showed that he’s more than ready to perform under the brightest of lights, as he helped Meralco take down Ginebra in their 2021-22 Governors’ Cup title series opener.
The sophomore was part of the Bolts’ starting unit, and went on to prove that he deserved the gig. He finished with 12 points on a 6-of-9 clip from the field, dialing in one of his better performances in this playoffs.
And that’s all thanks to the shot he made to start the game.
It was Black who opened the championship bout’s scoring. He took advantage of the opposition’s lapse on defense, stepping in just inside the three-point line for the one-dribble pull-up jumper that hit nothing but net.
“Definitely big for me,” expressed the 25-year-old combo guard after the match at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
“Siyempre, kapag naka-score ka sa start ng game, malaking factor ‘yun for your confidence.”
Half of his points came in the third canto, where he helped Tony Bishop and Allein Maliksi break the game wide open for good.
Black made a tough bucket on a foul by Scottie Thompson past the midway mark. He wasn’t able to complete the three-point play, but hauled down his own miss for the clean-up job to make a 65-55 spread in their favor.
Bishop came to work shortly after, powering a fiery 13-0 run to close out the period and give his side a wide 78-60 lead entering the fourth.
“I just took it one quarter at a time. I tried to set the team up and look for my teammates first, and thankfully the lane opened up,” said Black, who also finished with six rebounds and three assists in 34 minutes.
“I was able to hit some shots. Credit to my teammates, they came out and played really well today on both ends, especially in the second half,” he added as a total of five Bolts finished in double figures in the win.
What Black was also proud of was their defense against Ginebra’s guards, which saw them limit star playmaker LA Tenorio and Nards PInto to just seven points together — on a combined 2-of-12 shooting from the field.
“We really pride ourselves on defense. That’s our calling card as a team. And it’s not really individual defense. Of course there’s individual defense, pero siyempre ‘yung team defense muna,” he said.
“We try to have each other’s backs.”
But it isn’t lost on him that the two are keen to bounce back.
Photo by PBA Images
“I know those guys, Kuya LA and Nards, will come out in the second game very aggressive. They’re really good players. So we will have to look to that and make sure that we can counter that in the next coming games.”
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