Mo Tautua’a brought up the dunk he missed — again — during the closing moments of San Miguel’s eventual win over TNT in Game 2 of the PBA Season 49 Philippine Cup Finals on Wednesday night as he spoke to the media.
“If you’ve seen, I tried to do it again,” he said with a smile, on the heels of their 98-92 victory at the SMART Araneta Coliseum. “I missed another dunk.”
Tautua’a has always been one of the league’s more easygoing figures, and his making a joke out of that sequence was further proof — and proof as well of how he’s moved on from the controversial Game 1 last Sunday.
It was a match infamously remembered for the nullification of his one-handed jam with 56.1 seconds left to play, which took their 98-97 lead away and put the Tropang 5G ahead once more, leading to their 99-96 victory.
Everyone from San Miguel was left fuming — understandably so — as what was turning out to be a classic match between two of the PBA’s most successful franchises got decided by a mere technicality.
“I think that’s the first time anyone has lost a game like that where points get taken away … I’ve never seen that ever in my life, so that’s cool in that sense, I guess,” reflected Tautua’a, with some hint of sarcasm.
Despite the sting, the 36-year-old forward and the rest of the Beermen are acting like pros. They put everything behind entering Game 2, knowing that there’s no sense in crying over spilled milk.
“After that frustrating loss, we kinda tried to put that to the side because there’s nothing we could do about it anymore at this point,” he said. “So all we’re doing now is just making sure we go out and play our game.”
They did just that, especially Tautua’a himself. Thrust into the starting unit by Coach Leo Austria, the 10-year pro made the most of it.
He finished with 16 points, including nine in the second half, alongside four rebounds in a turnover-less outing to play a key role in leveling the series.
“When we play our brand of basketball, we do well. It feels good. You see us smiling, you see us happy, and when we play that way, things just go for us,” he said.
“We start rolling better, we start shooting better, we start playing better.”
Tautua’a could’ve capped off his night with a highlight-worthy play when he tried to clean up Don Trollano’s missed jumper with a one-handed put-back, only to miss again — bringing flashbacks of his rather viral dunk last Sunday.
Well, such is life, as they say, and the former No.1 overall pick could only chuckle and joke about it, being the good sport that he’s always been.
“I feel like I got over that point where I’ll just lay it in from now on,” Tautua’a said with a laugh, drawing giggles from members of the press.
#WATCH: “I THINK I’M DONE TRYING TO DUNK NOW”
Mo Tautuaa tries to laugh off the Game 1 controversy—but the sting still lingers.
@justinebacnis /Tiebreaker Times#PBA2025 pic.twitter.com/l8JFbXfNT9
— Tiebreaker Times (@tiebreakertimes) July 16, 2025
