San Miguel Beermen import AZ Reid straight up admitted that he and his teammates took Blackwater Elite lightly, which led to the frustrating 100-103 loss on Wednesday evening.
“We took ‘em lightly.
“We didn’t play the way we normally play, like the way we played in the first game. We played around, a lot of smiling, a lot of joking, so we lost,” shared Reid.
The Beermen actually had the chance to turn things around when they were able to cut the six-point deficit to just a solitary point, 100-101, after Marcio Lassiter’s trey with 34 ticks left.
However, Poy Erram happened, as the 6-foot-7 slotman calmaly made both of his charities with 19 seconds left. Reid and Arwind Santos tried to save SMB, but their game-tying shots missed.
What makes the loss painful for San Miguel is the fact that they already led by eight, 84-76, with 11:15 left in the fourth quarter, but then, they were not able to protect the said advantage.
“We stopped doing what got us the lead. We started relaxing, chilling and thinking it’s funny, laughing around and joking,” rued Reid, who’s now in his sixth PBA tour of duty.
“It’s unbelievable, man.
“Just keep your mouth shut and try to play the best you can, and hopefully you come out on top. We lost, okay, cool. It’s tough, it’s a very tough loss,” added Reid, who had 26 points and 12 boards.
The loss is definitely not a good way to head into the long break due to the 2019 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers. So for Reid, he hopes the whole Beermen would learn from Wednesday’s loss.
“We’ve got a long break, coming in 1-1, this game that we need, we lost. We just gotta regroup and hopefully everyone take it serious next time,” said the 32-year-old from South Carolina.
“We gotta stay tough, mentally tough, get a lead and not fold, not break. We broke tonight, and it resulted in a loss.”
