Arwind Santos has made it known that Kevin Ferrer’s mind games will not work in the big league
During his collegiate days, former University of Santo Tomas Growling Tiger Kevin Ferrer had a knack of psyching out the opposing team’s best player. An underrated defender, the tongue-wagging three-time UAAP silver medalist made sure to get into the heads of elite scorers like Bobby Ray Parks Jr. and Jeron Teng.
Wednesday evening, the Ginebra rookie tried to get in the head of former league MVP Arwind Santos.
Santos, moments after their win, admitted that Ferrer had gotten on his nerves during the game-breaking stretch where the Beermen had turned things around.
Both players were seen in a few tussles in the latter part of SMB’s pending victory, with the most heated one coming in the final minute with the Beermen ahead, 95-88. The two shoved each other, prompting officials to step in and restrain them from further unnecessary actions.
“Nag-aasaran lang kami,” said Santos, who finished Game Three with nine points and eight rebounds. “Nakita ko sa kanya nung fourth quarter, focus siya. Palakpak siya. Ako kumbaga hindi pa maka-porma kasi lamang pa sila. Hinihintay ko lang na lumamang kami tapos saka na ako mang-aasar.
“Dapat kasi pag mang-aasar ka, timing-timing rin. Eh di na-timing-an ko siya nung huli.”
As an 11-year veteran, trash talking is nothing new to the 2013 PBA Most Valuable Player. But in that particular exchange with Ferrer, what had made him feel a bit off towards the rookie was the latter being short-tempered on such occasions.
“Sinabihan niya ako ng hindi medyo maganda na ‘Kuya, ang tanda-tanda mo na, gumaganyan ka pa.’ So ang sabi ko, ‘Bakit ilang taon ka na ba? May napatunayan ka na ba?’
“Nagkainitan lang kami. Pero para sa akin, pikon ka pala. ‘Pag siya inaasar mo, ayaw,” shared the 35-year-old, who was seen clapping in the face of the rookie also during the said stretch.
But despite being obviously irritated with Ferrer, Santos still iterated that the young gun out of University of Santo Tomas did not get into his head, saying that Calvin Abueva of the Alaska Aces had been more rowdy during his rookie year.
“Dumaan naman ako sa rookie. Natural naman yun. Kung sa rookies lang ang pag-uusapan, wala ng mas kukulit pa kay Calvin [Abueva]. Si Calvin na ang pinakamakulit na rookie. ‘Yun nga hindi ako mapikon-pikon, siya pa?’
“Medyo nagkainitan ng konti. Pero normal yun kasi parehong ayaw matalo,” the four-time champion explained.
Even if Ferrer is averaging 12.67 points on 57.69 percent shooting in the series, Santos does not see the rookie as a legitimate threat among the Ginebra old-timers that San Miguel have to defend each and every game.
“Hindi naman siya nagpapanalo. Yung defense namin hindi naman nakatutok sa kanya. Lahat naman sila. Kumbaga sila LA [Tenorio], Japeth [Aguilar], [Scottie] Thompson,” the Angeles City native remarked about the Gilas Pilipinas pool member.
“Siya… Kailangan mo rin paghandaan. Pero para katakutan, para sa akin hindi.”
But nevertheless, Santos and the rest of the Beermen are still positive heading into Game 4 in Friday, hoping that they can sustain the momentum they have earned Wednesday night as they gun for a commanding 3-1 lead.
“Siyempre nasaktan kami dun sa pagkatalo nung Game 2, at least ngayon umo-okay na kami. Sana magamit namin ‘to pagdating ng Game Four,” Santos hoped.
