Had Mo Tautuaa made his three from the right wing with 13 ticks left to play, it could have changed the complexion of NorthPort’s 2019 PBA Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinal match with San Miguel on Wednesday.
Sadly, though, it missed. Then just a few seconds later, the final buzzer sounded. The Batang Pier had lost, 88-90, ending their solid run in the mid-season joust where they amassed a 9-2 record in the eliminations.
“That mother*** felt good.
“I felt good when I let it go – I felt good but it didn’t go in. I let my team down in that point,” rued Tautuaa, who had 20 points, six boards, and as many assists. “It’s a big shot. If it went in, the whole thing is different.”
Things could have been different had his shot went in. It would have given the lead back to NorthPort at 91-89, and who knows? That might have been enough separation from the Beermen, and it might have led to the victory.
And that victory would have meant everything, as it would send them to the semifinals for just the second time in franchise history. But now, they are only left to guess what could have been, would have been, and should have been.
“One shot away, one point away, one foul away… Everything was one away. It’s a big shot,” Tautuaa rued.
“One everything away, right? It’s good, a step in the right direction, but I’m tired of it. I want leaps and bounds to the right direction.
“Obviously, we want a better outcome. But when it comes down to it, we lost so we have to go back to the drawing board, build back up, and get ready for next conference,” added Tautuaa, who’s now in his second year with NorthPort.
While it was a bitter end to their campaign, but there’s no denying that the Batang Pier have improved tremendously. And given their growth in this conference, Tautuaa hopes that it will propel them further than the quarters.
“We’re a good team,” said the four-year pro. “When you put everything aside, we’re a good team. We’re young right now and it showed last conference, we lost in the last quarter every time, but we’re up substantially every time.
“This conference, we finished it, and obviously we got help from our import, but we’re finishing. If we wouldn’t have those lapses in the endgame, we might have the same record this conference. We’re right there every game,” he continued.
“We took another step this conference, and hopefully the next step next conference is further in the quarterfinals.”
