The 2016-17 PBA Philippine Cup playoffs is bringing out vintage performances from the veterans
All throughout the best-of-seven semifinals series pitting the Star Hotshots and the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, 39-year-old Rafi Reavis has been an essential piece for the Hotshots. The Filipino-American big man, who is just one of two remaining active players from the 2002 Draft, is logging in 27.4 minutes in the series while averaging 9.4 points and 8.8 rebounds.
“He’s our anchor together with [Marc] Pingris. He is long and quick so he is very important to our system,” coach Chito Victolero remarked about the New York-native.
Friday evening, Reavis produced an impressive statline, posting 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting to go along with 13 rebounds and two blocks to lead Star to a 3-2 series lead over Ginebra. His scoring output was a seven-year high for the 10-time PBA champion. But he downplayed his personal performance, deflecting the credit to his teammates.
“Well, I’ll just say that I was at the right place and at the right time. That’s what I’m always trying to do. Just trying to be a leader, trying to do what’s needed.
“I don’t really care about the points or the stats, the only thing that matters is the W. However that comes, I’ll go with it. As long as we get the win, that’s the only thing I’m concerned about,” the two-time PBA All-Star said.
And he is right. His impact in the series goes beyond the stat sheet, helping limit Japeth Aguilar all throughout the series — including a 13-point, 5-rebound outing for the Gilas Pool member in Game Five.
“I’m not surprised at all. Like I said, I don’t care about stats. That’s me, that’s the way I play. Sometimes you get a lot of points, sometimes you don’t. There’s a lot of things that don’t reflect on the stat sheet,” he said.
“That’s what I do and I accept my role.
“That’s why a lot of people are surprised because of the stats. But there are a lot things that I do that don’t show up on the statsheet and people aren’t surprised. That’s my role and I’m glad with that,” he furthered.
Moreover, the defensive anchor has helped re-ignite Star’s suffocating defense in Game Five. Star furiously crashed the boards, out-rebounding Ginebra 47-37 that led to a 24-14 advantage in second chance points.
“I was just thinking that it was do-or-die. If you get into a best-of-three series with a great team like Ginebra that is led by a great coach, you have to approach that game that way because you have to get every advantage you can get. It’s going to be hard to beat those guys two straight games,” he shared about the talk the team had a day prior to the pivotal game.
“I just told the guys to understand the gravity of this game and good thing everybody brought in to that.”
And with just one win separating them from their first Finals appearance since Tim Cone left the team for Ginebra, Reavis hopes that they enter Game Six with the same mentality they had in Game Five.
“We have to buy in to that same mindset come Game Six and repeat what we did today.”
