Charles Rhodes lit up the scoring charts with 21 points as early as the first quarter in Game One of San Miguel Beermen’s Finals showdown versus TNT Katropa.
Unfortunately though, the six-foot-eight forward cooled down come the next quarters. He only added a total of 10 points in the next 36 minutes, and coinciding with his short-lived streak is the Beermen’s 104-102 defeat.
With that, the Galveston, Texas-native takes all the blame in the stinging setback.
“I just got out of rhythm. Talk ‘N Text did a great job on me and I got to do better. I got to step up. I didn’t step up in the second and third quarter and I let my team down,” rued the 31-year-old, Wednesday night at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
“I just got to do better next game because I let my team down.”
Along with his 31 points, the 6-foot-8 big man grabbed 13 rebounds and dished out four dimes. But negating his stat line, aside from his six errors, was the five fouls he had — a prevailing problem he has had all throughout the season.
And for the Korean Basketball League veteran, who has had a dilemma in terms of managing fouls ever since the start of the mid-season conference, the calls against him got the best of what could have been a stellar night of his.
“He got into foul trouble. He was defended well by TNT because they know his capacity but he got into foul trouble early. Makita mo naman, in the second half, he only played twelve to fourteen minutes,” San Miguel head coach Leo Austria lamented.
“Next time, he should be careful because we need him inside, especially in the post.”
“You know, I’m not gonna bash the referees, but this is the Finals. You got to let us play,” Rhodes furthered. “The fouls I got in the second and third quarter affected the game. [It] threw my rhythm off. [It also] threw the team’s rhythm off and I couldn’t get no scoring.
“I had to comeback, cold then hot, cold then hot, and it just messed my rhythm up the whole game.”
Then again, Game One has wrapped up, with the Beermen down 0-1 in the best-of-seven championship affair. Game Two is set on Friday, June 23, still at the Big Dome, and Rhodes is already calling it a “must-win” situation.
“It’s the Finals. I wouldn’t care who it is, it’s the Finals. We must win next game. We must win.”
