Robbie Herndon sure knows how to make up for mistakes.
The Fil-Am winger proved that he can still be trusted despite committing a costly boo-boo, helping San Miguel pull off an escape act against TNT in overtime to seize the upper hand in the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup Finals, Friday night.
“I had to make up for it so I was a little more motivated. It lit a fire in me because that’s a big turnaround,” said Herndon moments after the Beermen’s thrilling 108-100 Game Three victory at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
The 29-year-old was practically the one who sent the game into an extra five minutes when his attempt to disturb the Tropang Giga’s sideline inbound led to a bench technical for a delay of game infraction with 11.7 seconds left.
SMB was already warned for the same reason prior when it had a bit of confusion on a substitution. And so the team got T’d up, leading to a Roger Pogoy bonus free throw that tied things up at 94-all.
“There was a miscommunication, I think, with me and the ref,” offered Herndon regarding that particular situation that added more spice to the affair. “From what I thought, he told me I was able to do that, I had one of those.
“But I guess they counted that we already had a delay of game with, I don’t know, I guess we were trying to sub a player in and we canceled. I didn’t know that counted already as a warning so I thought we still had one to do that.”
Luckily for him and the team, Jayson Castro wasn’t able to weave his endgame magic like he’s done a few times this conference, allowing the former sixth overall pick to rise and perform in the extra period.
He scored the first five points of the OT to lead a 7-0 run, which gave his side a 101-94 lead with 3:14 left. Jericho Cruz and Chris Ross then took it from there to take the Beermen home — and to the 2-1 lead in the series.
(C) PBA Images
“We could have just gotten a stop and won the game, but instead my technical mistake gave them a free throw and we had to go to overtime. It was more so like I had to make up for that mistake,” said Herndon.
Save for that technical, Herndon was yet again a ‘magic bunot’ by San Miguel head coach Leo Austria in Game Three. Plugged in after CJ Perez fouled out with 3:15 left in regulation, he finished with eight points and four rebounds.
The former D-League standout said that it was all about him staying ready to be called up whenever — he’s never seen action in this Finals until now, where he went on to play for a total of eight minutes and 15 seconds.
“That’s just staying ready. I got all the players on my team and the coaches, they’re always telling me to stay ready. That’s the important thing because you never know when your name is going to get called,” he said.
And to have his number called is surely a huge morale booster.
“It feels good and it’s a confidence booster in case he decides to use me again going forward. That’s always a good thing. But the main thing over here is we just want to win,” said Herndon, who arrived at SMB via trade last June.
“We just want to win the championship regardless of who plays, how many minutes you play, that really doesn’t matter right now. It’s all about winning. It feels good to be able to come in and help contribute in a pretty big game.”
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The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
