Devon Scott simply chose to look at the brighter side of things after receiving a rude welcome in his first-ever PBA game on Friday night.
The replacement for Diamond Stone did not have the ideal start he hoped for when San Miguel absorbed a shock 106-102 loss to Converge in the Commissioner’s Cup, but felt glad about the fight the Beermen showed.
“You always want to get a win,” said the 28-year-old moments after the match at the Philsports Arena. “But overall, as a team, we showed that we have heart.”
Scott finished with 16 points, 15 rebounds, and six assists in 42 minutes in the defeat, and had a hand in SMB’s fourth quarter uprising that saw them unleash 11 unanswered points to take a 100-95 lead with 4:37 remaining.
It was the biggest that they led in the game after being down by as many as 17 points during the third. However, they couldn’t get the job done.
The 6-foot-9 forward and the other Beermen could not buy a bucket after that fiery run, and witnessed the FiberXers go on an 11-0 run of their own to regain the lead, 106-100, with only 45.1 seconds remaining.
San Miguel didn’t score until Mo Tautuaa’s lay-up with seven seconds left, but the match was all but settled at that point already.
“We fought back and were able to figure it out. A few missed plays, a few missed rebounds [that] didn’t go our way so we ended up losing by four,” Scott offered. “Overall, I’m happy with our overall collective team show.”
The optimism on his part comes from the squad as well, appreciative of their support even if he’s far from satisfied with the way he performed.
“Everyone’s embraced me with open arms. Like today, I didn’t put my best basketball. It was clear in the first half that I was missing shots that I make in my sleep,” said Scott, who shot 7-of-18 from the field in the loss.
“But everybody’s on the sideline telling me to, ‘Keep going. It’s okay, don’t worry about it. We know who you are, what you can do.’ And at the end of the day, that’s what you can ask for as a player, it’s just support.”
Scott just arrived in the country earlier this week, and so the focus now is to acclimatize as soon as he can to become better moving forward.
“The adjustment? It’s not bad. The biggest adjustment is just sleeping,” said the Ohio native, who last played for Fuerza Regia de Monterrey in Mexico. “I got really, really sleepy at this time of the day. It’s almost my bedtime.
“But I wake up about 6:45 every day, you know, either go to practice and then get sleepy again. But I rather go to sleep early and wake up early, you know, maximize your day and get more done. That’s the biggest adjustment.”
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The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
