Shabazz Muhammad showed precisely the reason why Magnolia decided to switch imports in the middle of the PBA Season 49 Governors’ Cup after coming through in the clutch against the hungry Terrafirma on Thursday night.
The former NBA veteran nailed the tough go-ahead runner against the defense of Andreas Cahilig with 7.8 seconds left to play, and the Hotshots would go on to take the thrilling 99-98 victory to return to their winning ways in the conference.
Coach Chito Victolero and Co. tasked their new reinforcement to do as much and he did deliver, leaving the entire think-tank vindicated of their decision to bring him in and take the place of first choice Glenn Robinson III.
“The numbers are there, which were double-doubles. But we changed because of this kind of game,” he explained after the game at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium. “We want somebody to take charge down the stretch, like Bazz.”
Muhammad finished with 20 points, nine of which he made in the fourth quarter as he made it a point to be of help after being saddled by foul trouble early, which led to his benching in the entire second quarter.
The 31-year-old winger already incurred three personal fouls just in the opening period, which wrapped up with his team trailing, 17-20.
“I didn’t play the whole third quarter due to three fouls, and he was like, ‘I need you in this second half,‘ and I thought I did a good job on that,” he said.
(C) PBA Images
Muhammad did, no doubt, and he couldn’t be any more satisfied to have done as much that made his Magnolia debut all the more memorable.
“Me and Coach, we were locked in before I even came here. We had a meeting and he told me what he expected from me and that’s the kind of thing I do,” said the UCLA product, who also shot 8-of-15 from the field.
“I kept my head going forward … I was really, really happy about that, to uplift our team and get us that win,” he continued.
Still, there’s more work to be done now that he’s begun his journey with one of the league’s most popular franchises, and on top of his list was, of course, the very thing that he struggled the most in his debut.
“It’s frustrating being in foul trouble,” lamented Muhammad, who played for only nearly 24 minutes. “Almost cost our team. So that’s something I gotta adjust to.
“But you know, I thought I kept my head up. That’s the thing about basketball, it’s a lot of ups and downs and I thought I really came back in the second half and gave us what we needed to get that lift to win that game,” he added.
Victolero and the rest of the Hotshots are confident as well of the former San Miguel import re-acclimatizing with the PBA’s style of play.
“Siguro excited lang ‘yung tao, nung last game pa nun gusto maglaro eh,” he said as Muhammad’s clearance from FIBA took a while to be sent. “Medyo na-excite lang siya. But I think he will adjust in the next few games.”
