San Miguel head coach Leo Austria was glad that the team felt proven right with its decision to switch imports following Shabazz Muhammad’s exceptional performance against Meralco in PBA Governors’ Cup action, Saturday night.
“I think we didn’t make a mistake in changing him because he lifted us in this game,” the champion bench tactician offered.
It would be recalled that the Beermen changed foreign reinforcements just last week by bringing in the 29-year-old to take the place of Orlando Johnson, a move that raised eyebrows since he was already playing well with them.
He saw action for a total of three games with SMB and normed 22.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 5.0 assists. His best game came ironically against his ex-team Ginebra, where he had a 31-10-8 statline in a 110-102 victory.
Muhammad is already the club’s third import this conference. Before Johnson, it was with another returnee Brandon Brown for their first five games.
Quite shaky was their situation in that particular matter. But as the saying goes, third time’s the charm, and their new guy showed just that.
Just in his third game since taking over, Muhammad strapped his squad on his back. He exploded for 57 points on a 62-percent clip and 19 rebounds to lift San Miguel to the impressive 115-110 come-from-behind triumph.
“What I saw from him was he really wanted to win,” said Austria. “But I think it’s not surprising because what he did tonight, in other leagues ginagawa niya rin. But as early as now, lumabas agad ito. We’re happy for him.”
Austria said that there wasn’t actually any plan to bring in a new import when they had Johnson in tow, but there were suggestions that the team may have to look for another whom they feel could up the ante higher.
Photo by PBA Images
“OJ is not a bad import,” he said. “Actually, he helped us in our last two wins without Shabazz. But there’s a lot of suggestions, it’s a team effort na we need somebody who could give us a win like this. “It happened na when I was looking for an import, I asked the agent who’s available and he’s available. And I told him na, ‘Okay. If he can fly right away, let me know.’ After a few hours, sabi nila okay ‘to.
“Then, I asked the management and told them this guy is available. They decided, and worked it out,” continued the four-time Coach of the Year.
“It turned out na talagang tama ‘yung iniisip namin sa kanya.”
Austria and Co. are indeed happy to be vindicated with Muhammad. Still, he insisted that there remains more work to do, although he hopes at the same time that this will be the breakthrough they’ve been waiting for.
“I think what happened tonight is a gift for us and it’s a wakeup call for us and I hope this momentum of us continue dahil next game, it’s playoff time,” he said. “I’m so thankful dahil na-unleash namin ‘yung potential si Shabazz.
“We’re struggling since the start of the conference because of the changing of import and the addition of local players and still they are not in the flow of the game,” he added.
“I think in the next few days, we can work it out.”
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