Mikey Williams earned himself a new believer during TNT’s Game One encounter with San Miguel in the PBA Philippine Cup Finals, Sunday night.
No less than NBA star Jordan Clarkson expressed his admiration towards the league’s reigning scoring king via Twitter during the third quarter of the match, which he himself watched from courtside at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
“Big fan! mikey williams got game! TNT!” wrote the former Sixth Man of the Year, who’s in town to reinforce Gilas Pilipinas in the upcoming FIBA World Cup 2023 Asian Qualifiers’ fourth window.
Clarkson tweeted as much at a time when Williams was buckling down to work with Roger Pogoy to co-lead a Tropang Giga uprising after being down by 15 in the first half. He eventually dropped 12 points in that period alone.
The reigning champions went on to take the pulsating 86-84 victory, with the 2021 Philippine Cup Finals MVP finishing with 21 points.
Williams was then told by reporters about the tweet while on his way out of the Big Dome, and was definitely glad to have heard about it.
It turns out that the two have been familiar with each other for a while now, having played some hoops together back in Los Angeles.
“That’s love,” said the former G-League veteran, himself a California native.
“I know him from LA. I played with him a lot out there. So, I’m familiar with him.”
It’s nothing new anymore that Williams turns lots of impressed heads with his play. He’s been performing so well that he’s now ranked fourth in the BPC race after being ineligible for missing TNT’s first five games of the conference.
But what really matters most for the former fourth overall pick is the victory, something that he was able to get on Sunday night big thanks to his senior Jayson Castro, who nailed the walk-off game-winner.
“That’s Mr. Hero right there,” said Williams of the 36-year-old.
“He’s made countless big shots for us down the stretch. That’s our savior.”
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The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
