Kevin Ferrer’s swag finally made its PBA debut
Back in his collegiate days with the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers, Kevin Ferrer was a cold-blooded killer. Standing at 6-foot-4, he could post up at any given moment while stretching the floor out with his three-point shooting. On the other end, he was an underrated defender who could guard the opposing team’s best player and psych them out at the same time.
And now in his third month as a pro, Ferrer is beginning to showcase this in the 2016-17 PBA Philippine Cup Finals.
After being limited 15.7 minutes per game in the elimination round, the Gilas Pilipinas pool member has become a key rotation player in the series, posting norms of 12.67 points on 57.7 percent shooting.
In Game Three, the 23-year-old forward drained two threes that gave Ginebra an 86-82 edge with five minutes remaining. However, the Gin Kings’ inexperience in big-game situations showed, as they were not able to contain San Miguel’s 17-2 counter-rally that led to their demise.
“Yung pag-execute ng plays, medyo nagmamadali kami and pagkatapos nun hindi namin nakaka-convert. Sa kabila hindi [rin] kami nakakadepensa, yun sa tingin ko yung nagkulang kami,” Ferrer lamented.
The Beermen, specifically Arwind Santos, did not take kindly to the celebrations and the verbal jabs of the former Growling Tiger during the game. The two had a brief tussle with one minute left in the game that resulted in game officials having to separate the two.
It did not end there, as Ginebra head coach Tim Cone was offended by a late three from Chris Ross, resulting in a brief exchange between the two after the game had ended.
For the rookie, he opined that it had been a disrespectful act by Ross since there was no quotient to chase and the game was already out of reach.
“Alam naman ng lahat ng players or team na pag ganun, na kapag wala na ngang depensa, lamang na sila, titira pa rin sila, parang di kami nirerespeto,” Ferrer commented.
Now down 1-2 in the series, Ferrer is hoping that this fuels them in Game Four as they try to even the series once more on Friday.
“Okay lang kahit anong gawin nila. Basta mag-stick together kami, pagpaplanuhan namin sila,” he stressed.
“Pagbabayaran nila kung ano mang mga ginawa nila.”
