Justin Chua, usually mild-mannered, showed little hesitancy when asked what his mentality was heading into Phoenix Super LPG’s PBA Governors’ Cup showdown with NLEX on Christmas Day at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
“Sorry pero baka censored, pero ‘yung mindset ko today, I don’t give a f*** e,” said the 32-year-old bruiser.
“Bahala na.”
Well, that definitely served him well. Chua went on to finish with 19 points on an efficient 7-of-11 shooting clip and six rebounds to help the Fuel Masters end the Road Warriors’ unbeaten run in the conference, 102-93.
“I just played my game, I didn’t worry about anything, ‘yung mga voices outside,” he said. “Maganda naman ‘yung bunga.
“So sana ito na yung simula.”
It was the best performance of the season thus far for Chua, who was just averaging 2.5 points on 4-of-21 shooting in the first four games of the tilt.
So, none other than head coach Topex Robinson was elated to see the lefty 6-foot-6 forward regain his form — a form reminiscent of the Chua that wowed many during the 2020 Philippine Cup bubble in Clark.
“It’s been a long time coming for Justin,” he said. “He’s really been struggling, for the last 20 games or so. But I guess what’s important there was, his teammates were encouraging him, even in practice.
“You know, we try to lift him up. He really was struggling. He wanted to help the team but again, he was there, but he wasn’t. And he just asked me, even, to use other guys instead of him,” furthered Robinson.
“He was sacrificing himself, but we told him that, you know, we trust you, and we know that game is gonna come. And it just came in the right game.”
And that kind of camaraderie is what allowed him and the entire Fuel Masters to succeed en route to their third win of the tilt, according to Chua.
“Nagtulungan lang talaga kami since na-injured din si Paul,” he said as the team lost import Paul Harris due to an apparent leg injury.
“Sabi namin, lugi kami kasi galing ng import nila e. So we just tried to help each other talaga sa game. So ayun, ‘yun yung formula.”
—
All PBA games are streamed live on GigaPlay. Download it now on Android or IOS.
The second game of each playdate is also livestreamed on SMART Sports.
