Paul Lee turned 35 on Valentine’s Day but celebration plans fell through after Magnolia saw its PBA Season 48 Commissioner’s Cup title hopes get crushed.
The Hotshots came into Game 6 motivated to push the Finals to a decider, only to witness San Miguel show endgame poise yet again on the way to wrapping up the series – and completing its trek back to the top of the conference.
“Probably the saddest birthday,” lamented the star gunner moments after the 104-102 defeat, Wednesday night at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
Lee himself poured his best scoring performance of the conference with 25 points on four three-pointers as he tried to help Magnolia force a Game 7.
The crew appeared to have gotten things under control when the veteran guard nailed a trey to push their lead to six, 98-92, with under three minutes left.
But losing veteran floor general Mark Barroca due to foul trouble shortly after proved to be the beginning of the end for the Hotshots.
Without their primary on-court stabilizer, the team gradually lost their composure.
It was an opening that the Beermen took advantage of, with the trio of Jericho Cruz, CJ Perez, and Chris Ross nailing big triples.
That gave the team a two-possession lead, 103-99, with 48.7 seconds left to play.
San Miguel would eventually collect title no. 29 as it left Magnolia reeling from yet another heartbreak to the PBA’s winningest franchise.
“We lost our focus,” Lee said. “Medyo doon pwede natin sabihin na na-dominate kami ng San Miguel sa dulo. Yung experience, there’s a lot of players na maraming experience doon – championship experience as a team.”
After Wednesday, the Hotshots have now lost to the Beermen thrice in the Finals under head coach Chito Victolero, who’s been at the helm since 2016. Their first two were in the 2018 and 2019 Philippine Cup title bouts.
They are now 1-4 in the Finals under the cager-turned-mentor. Their other loss came at the hands of TNT in the 2021 Philippine Cup bubble in Bacolor.
Magnolia has not won a championship since the 2018 Governors’ Cup, where it took down the now-defunct Alaska in six games.
As difficult as it was, though, Lee chose to look at the positives instead, and with his sights now set on rest and recovery before buckling down to work again in preparation for the Season 48 Philippine Cup beginning February 28.
“Marami pa namang bagay na pwedeng ipagpasalamat. Unang-una, natapos ‘yung game na walang nasaktan, natapos ko ‘yung series na laging sinasabi sa akin na hindi ko natatapos dahil nai-injury ako,” he said.
“‘Yun yung mga bagay na pwede kong ipagpasalamat. Credit to San Miguel, they really wanted to win it. Move on. Tomorrow is another day.”
