It’s better late than never, as they say.
It may have taken a bit while but Lester Prosper was nonetheless proud to see Terrafirma get out of its funk following a 124-114 overtime victory over NLEX in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup, Friday at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
“I’m glad that we could stop this funk that we were in, this losing streak,” said the returning import as the Dyip ended their 25-game losing skid that dated back to last season.
“I’m happy that I could contribute to stopping this.”
The 6-foot-10 center previously said that the Dyip only needed one win ‘to just stop the bleeding,’ saying as much moments after the club suffered its 20th straight defeat through a 105-102 loss to Meralco last October 7.
However, the Dyip would lose five more games after that, with the narrow 91-85 decision to NorthPort last November 12 in Antipolo the toughest to swallow, perhaps, as they led the majority of the game only to fold in the final minutes.
Still, Prosper kept the optimism.
And that, fortunately, led to success. The naturalized Indonesian led the way with a PBA career-high 50 points on a 65-percent clip from the floor, on top of 19 rebounds and five assists in over 46 minutes of play.
He admitted it was tough to stay focused personally given their predicament — there were even times that he was far from the usual with lowly outputs — but he needed to brave through all of that, all for the team.
“You’ve got to be mentally strong to be in the PBA,” Prosper said. “I’ve said that over and over. It’s a physical league, on top of that, if you know the players that are coming here, you know how physical it is.
“And you know the tactics and you just know the league, you have to be able to stay strong. I’m back, this is my second time around, hopefully [there is a] third time, fourth time, I continue to keep coming back.”
