Jhonard Clarito is offering no excuses after missing what could’ve been the marginal free throws in Rain or Shine’s eventual loss to NLEX on Wednesday.
But the bruising winger wishes to have had better discernment instead of allowing eagerness to get the best of him, which indeed proved costly as the Elasto Painters lost hold of the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup lead.
“Ang sabi nga ni Kuya Beau [Belga] sa akin kanina, dapat umupo ako roon sa ilalim ng ring, nagpahinga muna ako nang medyo matagal-tagal,” he told members of the press moments after their 92-90 defeat at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Before heading to the foul line, Clarito actually suffered a bad fall as his back hit the backstop after getting fouled mid-air by opposing forward Tony Semerad.
It did take some time to recover, but he got back up on his feet and then headed straight to the stripe, but his bravery unfortunately led to nothing as he missed both of his free throws, allowing the Road Warriors to regain possession.
“Ako naman, excited akong mag-free throw. Kaya tumayo ako,” explained the 30-year-old former San Juan Knights standout of his decision.
“Naging excited akong mag-free throw. ‘Yun nga, sa sobrang excited ang kinalabasan naman, nagmintis.”
And things would turn from bad to worse as Robert Bolick dished the ball to JB Bahio, who trickled in the game-winner with three-tenths of a second left.
Rain or Shine could no longer pull off a miracle on the other end, and Clarito himself was visibly dejected, full of regret at the same time, with his judgment.
“‘Yun ang maling nagawa ko doon, na hindi ako nagpahinga nang maayos sa ilalim ng ring para makapag-free throw ako nang maayos,” he lamented.
Asked if the pain from that scary fall affected him when he stood up and took his bonuses, the Season 48 Most Improved Player denied as much, even adding that he was only thinking of making both–which wasn’t the case.
“Hindi naman. Focus lang talaga ako sa game kanina. Hindi talaga sumang-ayon sa amin yung pagkakataon, nung sumablay yung free throw ko,” he said.
“Hindi ko naman ano rin, parang kinabahan ba ako or ano ba. ‘Yung akin, iniisip ko, pumasok eh. Wala, sumablay,” added the 6-foot-2 Clarito.
Now, it’s all about recovering the best he can from Wednesday’s heartbreaker, especially his back, which he said has been hurting since the Magnolia game.
“Tumama doon sa gilid ng poste ng ring. Buti nga may foam, pero bumaon pa rin. Medyo masakit,” he admitted.
“Pahinga lang ako.”
