Just when the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel thought that they had the San Miguel Beermen all figured out — even leading by as much as 15 points in the first half — the defending champions stormed right back and first overtime. And when things reached the deep waters, the Gin Kings panicked.
With the game knotted 102-all with 15.8 seconds remaining in overtime, Joe Devance, a steady presence in every team he has played for for the last 11 years, was about to inbound the ball off a timeout. However, the 6-foot-7 utility forward could not find any of his teammates open, as the Beermen had locked in on defense. Five seconds had passed and they were slapped with a crucial turnover.
The turnover led to Marcio Lassiter’s game-winning tip-in that dropped Ginebra to a 0-2 hole in the best-of-seven Philippine Cup semifinals series.
After the game, Devance was unperturbed. But that was just his demeanor, as he had regrets for not giving his team a chance.
“What was on my mind? I didn’t really have someone to pass it to. I should have just lobbed it to somebody just to give it a chance. I might have passed it to Jerv [Cruz] on the last minute but Arwind [Santos] was following him. I couldn’t really… That was just the breaks of the game,” the 36-year-old forward recalled. “We still had a chance to get a stop but we couldn’t. But that inbound play was a crucial one.
“I should’ve just lobbed it to somebody.”
But beyond that crucial error, Devance was more frustrated with how he had played. He went just 4-of-11 from the field while committing four turnovers in this one, finishing with 11 points, six rebounds, and four assists.
“No. I mean yeah it was a crucial part of the game but that’s the breaks of the game. I have a next play mentality. We could have gotten the stop,” the Hawaii-born Filipino-American cager furthered.
“If anything, I was more mad at the little lay-ups I missed and the stuff like that that could’ve avoided us from being in that position.”
With that ‘next play; mentality, the eight-time PBA champion remains defiant even with the difficult hurdle that they face. Devance firmly believes that they will come out swinging come Tuesday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
“I mean, they are a great team. They will be considered as one of the best teams ever in the history of the PBA. We have our task cut and it’s going to be tough to beat those guys. The series isn’t over. We got a good gameplan but we just got to get better at it,” he vowed.
“I messed up on that turnover, I should’ve just lobbed it up to give ourselves a chance, but come Tuesday, we will come out here and fight.”
