Mike Harris was proud to see his Magnolia stay focused despite all the noise — literally — when the Hotshots squared off with Barangay Ginebra in PBA Governors’ Cup action on Christmas Day at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
A total of 4,483 fans witnessed the Manila Clasico live for the first time in two years and most of which were, of course, the Gin Kings faithful. And they made sure to make their presence felt in an attempt to shake their rivals.
The fans erupted in cheers in support of the defending champions especially during the fourth quarter, with their team trying to mount a comeback after going down by as many as 31 points late in the third canto.
Magnolia, however, was hardly moved. Harris, Rome Dela Rosa, Jio Jalalon, and Mark Barroca all dealt the final blows to give the crowd darlings their first loss of the season-ending conference following a 3-0 start.
“It’s great. We love the fans,” Harris said after the match. “This is really why you play the game. You play the game to feel the adversity, it shows the poise of our team, you know, not to get too high, not to get too low.
“We know Ginebra has a great fanbase, and I think we stayed locked in pretty much the whole game,” he added.
Harris himself got to experience how it’s like being part of the Clasico, and he actually stood out with another impressive performance.
The former Best Import outdueled Justin Brownlee as he finished with 29 points on a 50-percent clip from the field, on top of 15 rebounds, five assists, and a block without any turnover in 41 minutes and 35 seconds of play.
Still, he didn’t make it all about himself but rather tipped his hat to the entire Hotshots for doing everything on both ends of the floor especially on D, which ultimately led to their third victory in as many games to seize sole leadership.
“It was our defense. This whole week, that’s all we’ve focused on, you know, defensive schemes, rebounding the ball, keeping them at one shot. They’re a great team, they always play well when they’re in front or behind,” he said.
“We went into the locker room at halftime and I told the guys, you know, ‘It’s 0-0. You win every quarter, you win the game.’
“We tried as hard as we could to limit them to one-shots — they got going right there at the end of the game, hitting some outside shots. They’re a great team. It’s just today was our day,” Harris added.
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