Chris Ross was hard on himself after missing the potential game-winning shot that led to the San Miguel Beermen’s 90-92 demise at the hands of the Phoenix Pulse Fuel Masters in Game Three of their 2019 PBA Philippine Cup semifinal clash, Sunday night.
Ross pulled up from three to try to win it for the Beermen after JC Intal’s missed freebies on the other end with 15.4 seconds left to play left the door wide open for San Miguel.
Unfortunately, his shot did not meet the bottom of the net.
June Mar Fajardo managed to grab the board and gave it to Von Pessumal, but the latter missed his jumper as well.
“I mean, y’all know what kind of team we have. We had a chance,” lamented Ross, who finished with eight points built on three treys with five assists.
“I just let my team down today, so all that other stuff really doesn’t matter.”
But besides the missed shot, Ross was more frustrated with the back-to-back fouls called on him inside the final 49.6 seconds, which – unfortunately for the Beermen – resulted in four straight freebies by Matthew Wright.
“I’m not even thinking about the shot. [It’s about] the two foolish fouls before that which gave them points.
“In that situation, we gotta make ’em earn it, and I didn’t. Just fouled and put ’em on the line. The shot is secondary,” he said.
“It would’ve been nice if it went in, but the two foolish plays before that kinda… Didn’t give my defense a chance to get a stop, and it’s just stupid on my part,” the 6-foot-1 combo guard continued.
It was a tough night for Ross and SMB since they failed to post a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, as many expected following their down-the-wire wins in the first two games.
“[We had] the opportunity to take a stranglehold of the series, and we let that slip.”
