Alec Stockton doesn’t mind the criticisms being thrown at him after yet another endgame blunder hurt Converge’s chances against Ginebra Sunday night.
The two-way guard said that fans are entitled to their own opinion as he became the center of online discussions anew after committing a costly turnover down the stretch, allowing Justin Brownlee to put the game away for the Kings.
“I’m not really on social media like that,” he told reporters moments after their 99-93 loss at the SMART Araneta Coliseum, which was already their fourth consecutive in the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup.
“But it’s just part of it. We’re in the entertainment business, and people have rights to their own opinion on how they view the game.”
Stockton was supposed to inbound the ball with less than a minute to go, but Scottie Thompson deflected the throw-in, and RJ Abarrientos picked it up before giving it to ‘JB,’ who then scored the layup to make it a 97-93 spread.
The Barangay’s resident import made that tough shot by attacking the defense of, yes, the former FEU Tamaraw in their one-on-one situation.
Brownlee would go on to ice the game with a perfect trip to the line with 9.2 seconds left–a trip he had as he was fouled to freeze the clock after Converge failed to convert on the play prior, with Stockton missing a four.
Skeptics were quick to throw their sentiments on the young PG, for he’s been struggling in crunch time for the second game in a row already.
Their previous outing against San Miguel saw them bow to a narrow 103-99 decision, in which Don Trollano sank the marginal free throws from a 99-all deadlock as he capitalized on the shooting foul called on Stockton.
It brought flashes of his costly foul on Jeremiah Gray in their Season 50 Philippine Cup quarterfinal do-or-die against Ginebra last December, which allowed the latter to force overtime and eventually complete the fightback.
Needless to say, it’s been a stretch so tough for Stockton, although he refuses to let it affect him whatsoever as the 27-year-old chooses to stay optimistic.
“I don’t really let it affect me,” he said.
“You know, I come home to my kids, my family, and that’s who I look forward to meeting; obviously being able to gel with my teammates, being able to enjoy the game with them.
“And overall, just being grateful for the game of basketball. Not everybody gets to have this opportunity to play basketball for a living, that’s really everything to me already,” the 21st overall pick of the Season 46 Draft added.
“Other than that, having the people to comment or what their opinion is, that’s up to them. But for me, I feel grateful and blessed to be here,” he closed.
He believes, too, that they’d all be able to turn things around soon, once their key players heal up and make them play with a complete squad.
“We’re confident,” Stockton said. “We’re lacking three of our main guys–Calvin, Justin Arana for today, and Juan from the past three games.
“We have some time to kinda recover for this Holy Week, we don’t play till the 10th, so hopefully, we’re complete by then.”
