Friday night’s Game Three of the 2019 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals between long-time rivals TNT KaTropa and the San Miguel Beermen was quite eventful for Terrence Jones.
Just under six minutes into the match, refs had already slapped the former NBA cager with a flagrant foul penalty one for headbutting Chris Ross moments after incurring his second personal foul.
Then at the 4:43-mark of the third canto, Jones was on the floor writhing in pain while clutching his stomach after contact with June Mar Fajardo, who was carving space down under.
And with only 6.3 seconds left of the same quarter, Jones tangled up with Christian Standhardinger during a rebound battle underneath. Standhardinger ended up clipping Jones’s arm.
Jones and TNT got the last laugh, though, as they won 115-105 and got the 2-1 lead. But things have gotten personal, as Ross was quoted as saying Jones is “mentally a baby.”
Despite all of this, the 27-year-old American is doing his best to be the bigger man by brushing it off.
“I don’t really have too much to say about it. I’m just here to try to win game by game and we did that today,” said Jones, who had 37 points, 18 rebounds, and nine assists to go with five blocks.
Jones would rather discuss how his teammates played that delivered the win. He pointed to the 29-point explosion of Roger Pogoy, and the career-high outing of Don Trollano with 18 markers.
“Roger shot the ball very well tonight, Don did a great job on both ends of the court, and Yousef [Taha] came off the bench and did a great job for us. So I just wanna give credit to my team and not any of that stuff.”
Ultimately, Jones now has his sights on Friday’s Game Four, where TNT look to seize a commanding 3-1 lead.
“We’ll just get ready for Game Four. That’s all we have to worry about,” said the seven-year pro out of the Kentucky Wildcats program.
“I’m excited how we come out as a team in Game Four.”
