Charles Rhodes was a picture of disappointment when he failed to finish the San Miguel Beermen’s 2019 PBA Commissioner’s Cup match versus the Barangay Ginebra Sunday night, no thanks to personal fouls.
The former Best Import was having himself an excellent outing until he got booted out of the match with 2:45 remaining in overtime. Rhodes was called for an offensive foul after making contact with LA Tenorio while setting a screen.
Rhodes exited with 34 points on a 59-percent clip, 12 rebounds, three assists, three blocks, and a steal. And though an all-Filipino San Miguel managed to fight without him, the Beermen still bowed to the defending champs, 107-110.
Rhodes admitted that he committed two of the fouls called on him. But the other four, for him, left him puzzled.
“It’s just crazy. You know, I get six fouls… I know I committed two when I was trying to get position on [Justin] Brownlee, one on the offensive rebound. The other four, especially the last call, I didn’t even move,” he rued.
“It’s just disappointing, but what can you do? That’s how the cookie crumbles sometimes.”
Despite his confusion, though, the champion reinforcement knows that he should have been smarter. “I just gotta be more smarter,” said Rhodes, who was averaging just 3.0 fouls in their first three games this conference.
“I shouldn’t even go for the screen when I know the referees are calling calls like that. And I gave them a chance to call an offensive foul on me to take me out the game, to take me away from trying to help my brothers win this game.”
Rhodes feels like the loss was on him, so he apologized to his teammates and the coaches. He confessed that he “let them down” when he fouled out during a critical conjuncture for the Beermen, who have now fallen to 1-3.
“I’m just sorry to my teammates and my coaches. Like, I just feel like I let them down, so I’m really hurt about that,” said the 11-year pro out of Mississippi State. “I just gotta go [review] the game and see what else I can do better.”
Still, despite the disappointing loss, Rhodes said that it will only help the Beermen improve.
“We got our groove back and this is just gonna help us. This is just gonna help us get better,” said the 33-year-old. “Now we just gotta make a run. We gotta make a run and just prepare for the playoffs, and try to get prepared for the seeding.
“So every game from now on is very, very, very important.”
