Arizona Reid nursed a sprained ankle but still dropped a monster triple-double in the San Miguel Beermen’s 143-119 win over the winless Columbian Dyup in the 2018 PBA Governors’ Cup, Friday night at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
Taking a backseat for his red-hot teammates in terms of scoring, the resident reinforcement instead served as a facilitator by dropping 11 assists to go along with 16 points and 17 rebounds, on top of a game-high six steals.
But for the two-time Governors’ Cup Best Import, he doesn’t mind the stats so long as the Beermen get the most important stat – which is the win.
“I don’t care about the stats. Stats don’t mean [anything], it’s a great thing to have a triple-double, I want to win,” said the 32-year old reinforcement.
“I don’t care if I have two points, one rebound, zero assists and we win by ten. I want the win man. I don’t get paid for stats, I get paid to win.”
With how badly he played in the first half, Reid said that his second half outburst was simply his way of paying back his teammates who never gave up on him.
Reid struggled with just two points on 1-of-8 shooting in the first two quarters, and was even sidelined the rest of the half after hurting his ankle and losing his contact lens in the 6:48 mark of the second quarter.
“My teammates kept encouraging me, giving me the ball,” he said.
“You know, they told me to stay positive, stay calm, stay confident.”
It paid off for Reid, who decided to simply play off the ball in the deciding second half where the Beermen completely turned the tide on the stunned Dyip with a 79-53 blast.
“I felt myself get a little better. Made some shots, a lot of assists, a lot of rebounds, spread the lead a little bit. You know, I’m happy that you know, to motivate my team, score a little more. Get everybody involved,” he added.
“I knew tonight wasn’t my night scoring the ball. No problem. I’d give it up. I had 11 assists, something like that. I have no problem with that, giving the ball to my teammates.”
