Calvin Oftana was left frustrated as he rued not receiving enough touches in the second half of TNT’s eventual defeat to Ginebra on Sunday night that reduced the PBA Season 49 Governors’ Cup Finals to a virtual best-of-3 series.
“Wala akong touches sa second half. Just to be honest, nafu-frustrate ako. ‘Di ako nakakahawak ng bola, feel na feel ko ‘yung laro,” he told reporters moments after their 106-92 Game 4 loss at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The 28-year-old winger was undeniably the Tropang Giga’s best player especially in the first half with 20 big points — including 13 in the first quarter alone — although they were staring at a 54-42 deficit entering the intermission.
But he would only score six in the second half, thus the disappointment on his part. He went on to finish with 26 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the floor, including a 4-for-8 clip from three, and also hauled down six rebounds.
Oftana, though, is trying his best to understand what happened, saying that everything won’t be around him as he also has his teammates.
“As a player, alam mo sa sarili mo kung mainit ka o hindi. Pero ganun talaga basketball. Hindi iikot para sa akin, may mga kasama din ako,” he said.
Apart from frustration, Oftana is left confused after easily his best showing of the series to date led to a loss. The last three matches saw him score just a total of 31 points, including nine-point showings in Games 1 and 3.
“I don’t know eh. Nung ‘di maganda ‘yung production ko sa scoring, nananalo kami. I don’t know. ‘Di ko alam san ako nagkulang,” he reflected,
“Ina-adjust ko laro ko, lahat ginawa ko pero wala eh, talo sa mga ganung bagay,” he added.
“So I’ll think about it, watch the game and adjust na lang.”
So, it’s back to the drawing board for him and the rest of the Tropang Giga as they have now lost twice in a row after a 2-0 start into the race-to-4 tilt.
And what appears to be a focal point of their preparations in the next two days would be defense after miscommunications in Game 4, said Oftana.
“Marami miscommunication sa depensa, lalo na kay Justin [Brownlee]. It’s tough to gamble na ‘di mag-switch kasi magaling din si RJ [Abarrientos], si [Maverick] Ahanmisi sa ball screen,” said the third-year pro out of San Beda.
“So parang wala, nag-gamble kami sa mga ganung bagay at ‘yun nangyari, na-shoot mga tira nila. Miscommunication sa depensa namin.”
