Gabe Norwood committed a shocking gaffe in the final seconds of Rain or Shine’s eventual loss to Ginebra in Friday’s PBA Commissioner’s Cup action.
The 38-year-old veteran air-balled a pull-up from midrange with 15 seconds left to play but him forgetting the situation caught many by surprise.
He took the shot — a possession they gained after doubling Tony Bishop — with the Elasto Painters badly needing a triple as they were down 105-102.
The misfire was eventually hauled by Maverick Ahanmisi, who then threw it to Christian Standhardinger for an unmolested bucket to seal it.
Norwood, who was visibly upset as the final buzzer sounded, admitted that ‘everything’ was running through his head at that moment.
“A whole lot of everything,” he confessed to reporters moments after the 107-102 defeat at the SMART Araneta Coliseum. “We were just trying to fight, and get us another possession. I felt we were running around forever.
“At least, kind of the time slows down when we got the steal. I think everything ran through my head at the same time,” he added.
Looking back at that scenario, Norwood was actually wide open for a dunk, but he pulled back before firing the ill-advised jumper.
The 15-year pro also had a couple of options to defer to beyond the three-point area, with Santi Santillan and Andrei Caracut on both wings.
But then, he was thinking about plenty of things before ultimately taking the shot — one that he actually makes on most instances.
“I was trying to remember the score,” he said.
“At first when I got the steal, I was thinking, ‘Oh! I got a layup.’ I thought we were down three.
“I thought there was less time on the clock,” added Norwood, who also admitted being aware of the aforementioned young guns’ presence. “By the time I was dribbling backwards, I took a peek and I was just thinking of getting one up.”
With what happened, Norwood vowed to become better.
“The game just moves fast and you gotta make quick decisions and I made the wrong one in that spot,” said the two-time champ, who finished with six points and eight rebounds.
“I just gotta be smarter in that time-score situation. It’s taught when you’re 5 years old. And I lost that in that quick span of time.”
View this post on Instagram
