It’s a totally strange for Arwind Santos to be sitting at home idly instead of being in the gym with his team, gearing up for the PBA playoffs.
The 40-year-old is reluctantly on an early vacation as NorthPort’s season came to a screeching halt on Sunday night after losing to Phoenix Super LPG in the battle for the last ticket to the 2022 Governors’ Cup quarterfinals.
“Nakakapanibago,” he told Tiebreaker Times a day after the heartbreaking 98-101 defeat.
“At, nakakalungkot. Hindi ka sanay, kumbaga.”
Santos is missing the playoffs for the first time in about seven years. Per league stats chief Fidel Mangonon III, the last time he exited prematurely was when San Miguel bowed out of contention in the 2015 Commissioner’s Cup.
“Sobrang tagal na,” he said.
There, the Beermen failed to replicate their success from the Philippine Cup, ending the elimination round with only a 4-7 record. It is also the last time that the league’s winningest franchise didn’t make it through.
The 2013 Most Valuable Player failed to reach the next round just thrice during his time with the ball club, where he won all of his nine championships — including, of course, the unprecedented All-Filipino five-peat.
However, it wasn’t really the end of his own streak that saddened Santos. He believes that the Batang Pier have the talent to reach the semis, thus the difficulty on his part to fathom that he and the crew did not live up to such.
Photo by PBA Images
“‘Yung team namin, hanggang maka-semis, kayang-kaya e. Kaya lang, hindi ko rin maintindihan bakit natalo pa kami,” he said.
“Pero, wala e.”
Having the aptitude is one thing, but experience is another story. And that, for the 15-year veteran, is what the youth-laden crew needs.
“Ang masasabi ko lang, kailangan pa ng experience — more exposure, more experience sa mga kasama ko,” Santos offered.
“Kasi, hindi lang talent-wise ang labanan dito sa PBA, e. Kailangan talaga ‘yung mga crucial part, nakakapag-decide ka ng magagandang desisyon, mga tamang desisyon,” he continued.
Well, proof of which was in NorthPort’s last two games. It had a chance to upend TNT last Friday and head straight into the quarters, when it led 90-89 behind Robert Bolick with 1:40 left in the fourth. But it failed to finish the job.
Instead, the game went into an extra five minutes. Still, the Batang Pier had an opportunity to tie the game with a trey in the final seconds, only for Jamie Malonzo to commit a traveling violation. The Batang Pier lost, 101-106.
And Sunday’s match saw them falter in the endgame again. Matthew Wright converted the three-point play with 29 ticks left for the 100-98 lead, and the Fuel Masters went on to complete the comeback from an early 15-point deficit.
That loss wasted the remarkable effort they showed late in the tourney, where they won five straight after an 0-5 start to put themselves in contention — a streak they pulled off despite being hampered by injuries.
“Ang nakita ko, ang team namin kayang sumabay first quarter hanggang dulo. Pero ‘pag nagdikitan na, ‘yun ‘yung sinasabing kailangan may experience ka,” said Santos, whose team finished the tilt with a 5-7 card overall.
“‘Pag dikdikan, alam mo kung sino pupuntahan mo, ano dapat mong gawin, mga ganon. ‘Yun lang. ‘Yun lang talaga, yung mga crucial parts.”
But those close losses, according to the decorated forward, will only be beneficial for NorthPort’s maturity moving forward.
“Ako, ang lagi ko namang sinasabi, at bilang captain ball din nila, kaming dalawa ni Kevin [Ferrer], ‘no, matuto tayo sa nangyayari.”
“Kasi ako, nadaanan ko na ‘yan e. Hindi ko naman bini-build up ‘yung sarili ko, pero may natututunan ako. Isang beses lang mangyari sa’kin … enough na ‘yun para matutunan ko ang isang bagay,” he said.
Now, as they all head into the offseason, Santos looks forward to helping strengthen the Pido Jarencio-coached unit’s chemistry even further.
“More bondings ang kailangan namin, para talagang mabuo kami ng todo,” he said. “Kasi so far, hindi pa naman kami ganun katagal magkakasama, halos ilang buwan pa lang, so it’s not enough para mabuo mo ang isang team.
“So pagbalik na pagbalik, kung kailan babalik ang PBA, kailangan maraming bonding, maraming scrimmage, mga situational ang gagawin namin para ‘pag nangyayari mga ganitong desisyon, ganito ‘yung dapat naming gawin.”
And as for himself, Santos is keen on doubling the work he’s been putting in following a solid first conference with his new team that saw him put up per-game averages of 17.3 points, 8.8 rebounds, 1.8 blocks, and 1.3 steals.
“Ang gagawin ko lang, maghanda,” said Santos, who was traded by SMB to NorthPort for Vic Manuel in a shocker of a deal last November.
“Sabi nila, maganda naman ang performance ko. So kung madadagdagan ko pa ‘yun, siguro pipilitin ko pa rin maging consistent sa lahat ng games namin, Kasi alam ko, ang tiwala pa rin ng mga coaches at teammates ko is malaki.”
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