Right now, Paul Lee is on a roll.
Four days since dropping 22 points that served as his redemption from an eight-point outing last September 23, the gunslinging guard unleashed 28 points to lead his Magnolia Hotshots past the San Miguel Beermen, 109-108.
Lee’s Sunday night outing was much more dramatic, as his 28th point of the ball game – a leaning jumper – gave Magnolia the one-point victory and improved the team’s record to 4-1 in the 2018 Governors’ Cup.
Magnolia had to climb back from a four-point deficit with 2:16 left in the game, and Justin Melton and Lee joined hands inside the final 51.5 ticks for a mini 5-0 spurt to stun SMB, who have now absorbed their second straight defeat.
“Swerte lang na-open tayo,” Lee humbly admitted after the match.
Lee was adjudged as the Best Player of the Game versus the Beermen for his strong performance. In the last two games, the 29-year-old from Tondo has averaged 25.0 markers on a 46 percent-shooting clip from the field.
After Sunday, the University of the East product is now averaging 19.3 points, 3.3 assists, and 3.3 steals.
“Siguro napaganda lang gising natin kanina,” said Lee with a grin. “Sana next game maganda uli gising ko. Concentrate lang sa game. Siguro dala na rin nung maganda yung start.
“Nakuha ko agad yung rhythm ko.”
But more than his individual showing, Lee is really happy for his Hotshots’ win over the Beermen.
The Beermen were the heavy favorites against the Hotshots, as they were expected to bounce back from their loss to the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel a week ago, but it went otherwise, no thanks to Magnolia’s end-game wits.
“Of course sobrang importante ‘tong game na ‘to. Ito yung mga team na fifty-fifty lang chance namin na manalo eh,” said the seven-year veteran.
“So at least nakakuha kami ng isa. Kakailanganin namin ‘to at the end of elimination.”
