ANTIPOLO – It was never about making any statement for Simon Enciso, even though some may have perceived otherwise.
The veteran guard pulled out his bow-and-arrow celebration after nailing a booming trey in the clutch to help TNT take down San Miguel, 89-84, and lay their winless spell to rest in the PBA Philippine Cup Sunday night.
The Beermen were in the middle of a major rally when he knocked it down from the left corner with exactly 49 seconds left to make it an 86-80 lead.
He then did his usual ‘celly’ (as today’s generation calls it) while jogging down the floor before, interestingly, staring down his former team’s bench.
But the 34-year-old Enciso clarified that he meant no harm, that it was just all part of the emotions he felt hitting that big of a shot
“It’s just playing the game with a lot of emotion. That’s a big shot. You guys all know my celebration, I don’t mean anything,” he said moments after the match at the Ynares Center here. “I mean, I’ve done it a lot for San Miguel, too.
“It wasn’t a statement. It was just me enjoying the moment, enjoying being on the floor, enjoying competing. I’m not trying to take for granted any second of it; any big moment, just trying to soak everything in.”
(C) PBA Images
Enciso wound up with 13 points on 3-of-8 shooting from three, two rebounds, and four assists to help TNT net its first win after an 0-3 start.
He sustained his solid play after finishing with 14 markers in their 95-81 defeat to Phoenix in Montalban the last time out.
And in these two games, the former PBA D-League standout is proving the Tropa right in their decision to pick him up from free agency after not being renewed by San Miguel, where he won his two championships.
“That’s the reason we got him,” said Coach Chot Reyes. “We need that extra shooter from the outside, as well as a backup point guard to Rey Nambatac.
“But Rey hasn’t been playing well in the first three games, so we decided to start Simon and give Rey a different look — balasa ika nga,” he added.
Still, Enciso has nothing against his former club. He also refuses to make it all about himself, even though he clearly was one of the major reasons why TNT was able to thwart SMB in another clash of proud franchises.
“It’s always fun competing against them. We always compete at practice. Even when I didn’t get a lot of minutes, it was a lot of tough scrimmages at practice. A lot of [expletive talking, a lot of… You know what I mean,” he said.
“Just tried to not make it about myself and just figure out what I can do to help Talk N Text win, try not to pay attention to what’s happening on the SMB side.”
