Jayson Castro decided not to offer his two cents when asked about the huge free throw disparity that had happened in the TNT Katropa’s Game Three loss to the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, Friday night at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
“No comment,” said the soft-spoken Castro after a brief pause, after the Katropa’s 103-106 defeat that sent them to a 1-2 deficit in the best-of-five series.
The glaring difference in foul shots was clear as soon as the stat sheet was published. And it favored the Gin Kings the most, as they shot 43 times on the line. The Katropa, meanwhile, only trooped to the stripe 14 times.
But the 31-year-old does not want to dwell on it for one good reason: TNT still held their own and managed to make Game Three a down-the-wire affair despite majority of the calls obviously not going their way.
“If you look at the game naman tinalo lang kami by three points. And then last shot pa kami for overtime sana,” the 10-year pro said, pertaining to the missed game-tying three-pointer by Glen Rice, Jr. with five seconds left to play.
“Yung confidence namin nandoon pa rin. Alam namin na kaya namin sila talunin, may mga mistakes lang kami. Yung composure namin dapat nandoon pa rin,” added Castro, who finished the game with 17 points, nine boards, and nine dimes.
Game Three did not fall short of featuring drama and tension both on and off the court. With that, the nine-year veteran is expecting the same to take place come Game Four this Sunday, where they aim to extend the series into a decider.
“Ganun naman talaga ‘pag playoffs. Siyempre both teams gusto manalo. Natural na yun,” said the six-time champion.
“Siyempre both teams naman gusto makarating sa Finals.”
