Things heated up in the San Miguel Beermen’s huddle at one point in the third quarter of their 2019 PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinal opener versus the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, Saturday evening.
During the Beermen’s timeout at the 7:27-mark of the same period, cameras caught import Chris McCullough berating his teammates. He then left the huddle shortly after.
The reason? McCullough didn’t like their collapse on defense prior to the timeout. The Beermen allowed the Elasto Painters to easily grab offensive boards, while Carl Montgomery dunked freely off a cut.
McCullough explained that he had simply tried to be a leader and lift everybody’s spirits. Before that, the Beermen actually went down 59-66 after Montgomery’s one-handed flush.
“The guys, I was cursing at them, to be honest. But I was just trying to be a leader, get everybody up. We were down, we needed a couple stops to get back into the game,” said the 24-year-old.
“Just tried to bring everybody’s spirits up.”
That incident apparently helped the Beermen. From being down for most of the game, they rallied back and got their first taste of the lead at 74-71 with 3:52 remaining in the third.
San Miguel got it going after that. And when the Elasto Painters knocked to within one with 2:27 left to play, McCullough scored SMB’s last five points to steer his side to the 111-105 victory.
“Everybody stepped up. It was a team effort, and we got a good win,” said McCullough, who had 32 points and 14 rebounds in the win that gave the Beermen a 1-0 lead in the series.
“Physical game, tough game. It’s gonna be a good series. We played hard, we got some stops, made free throws, and got the win.”
