Marvin Jones himself is aware of how much of a crowd-drawer Bol Bol has become since joining TNT for the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup.
He got to see it first-hand when a solid crowd turned up at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium on Tuesday night to watch his Meralco and the defending champions, most of whom came to see the 7-foot-3 former NBA pro in the flesh.
But the 32-year-old refused to get overshadowed by his celebrated counterpart, for he held his own–and eventually left the old venue with the last laugh.
Jones finished with 29 points and 12 rebounds to help lead the Bolts to a 110-106 escape, enabling them to net their second straight win in the midseason joust and gain a share of second with NLEX in the standings.
“Big time, bro. Good person,” he said of going up versus Bol moments after emerging from the team’s dugout. “He’s like the fan favorite here.
“Just to go out there, you can’t really play as physically as you want, but it’s a good team. A good athletic team, a talented team. It was fun.”
The Chicago-native did get the best out of the matchup, as he helped limit the towering wing to only 28 points on 9-of-17 shooting and 12 rebounds.
Decent numbers, still, but that’s already a subpar showing in Bol’s standards–that, after posting 37.3 points, 16.3 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks prior.
Jones, however, refuses to make it about the two of them; whatever they achieved against TNT was all thanks to their efforts as a collective.
(C) PBA Images
“That’s just the mentality in every game. You go out and play a team game, I don’t make it about a one-on-one match,” said the nine-year pro.
“I don’t know how to play basketball that way. I’m used to playing in Europe; in Europe, we play a team game, we share the ball, we move the ball, and that’s the philosophy here,” the 7-foot reinforcement furthered.
And he’s happy as well to have helped Meralco gain a measure of payback against the team that beat them in the Season 50 Philippine Cup semis.
Yes, the series that ended via a gentleman’s sweep after Rey Nambatac and Jordan Heading conspired in the clutch for a miraculous comeback in Game 5.
“For me, it’s my first time playing in Asia, so I didn’t know all the backstory,” said Jones, who shot 44-percent from the floor in a turnover-less showing.
“But hearing the coach talk about it before the game, saying that they lost to these guys last year in the playoffs, like I said, for me, bro, I go out just to try to play the game the right way, win every game.”
Serving as the icing on the cake for Jones and Meralco was giving both active consultant Nenad Vucinic and Javee Mocon a W on their birthdays.
“It’s good to see everybody’s energy high; everybody felt good. It was Coach’s birthday, Javee’s birthday, so it’s nice to get the win on their birthdays,” he said.
#WATCH: HE’S LIKE THE FAN FAVORITE HERE 🏀
Marvin Jones relished his matchup against Bol Bol#ReadMore 👉 https://t.co/rbRYcZb8Xg
📹 @justinebacnis /Tiebreaker Times#PBA50 pic.twitter.com/3Q1ZIUof0r
— Tiebreaker Times (@tiebreakertimes) April 7, 2026
