Given his exploits all conference long, Terrence Jones was the focal point of the San Miguel Beermen’s physical defense against the TNT KaTropa in Game One of the 2019 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals, Sunday evening.
There were hard fouls by Kelly Nabong and Arwind Santos in the game’s early-goings. There was a little exchange with Chris Ross after an inadvertent elbow to the face during the third – which the latter didn’t like. Whatever San Miguel could throw, the former NBA pro got.
It may have been tough on his part, but Jones also understands it’s just a way for opposing teams to slow him down.
“Yeah, I mean, that’s pretty much the only thing that, you know, teams try to do to make me not be as aggressive on offense,” said the 6-foot-9 big man.
“So you know, it comes within the game, and I’m ready for it.”
In return, Jones simply does his best to stay composed and not let emotions get the best of him.
“This is the championship, so I’m definitely emotional as well.
“I love to play the game. I want to win. I’m here to not let anybody punk me, but I’m definitely trying to stay calm and stay poised to make sure I stay in the game for my team,” he said.
Jones did keep his temper despite the physicality of the defense on him. He went on to finish with 41 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists to power the Texters to a dominant 109-95 win to for a 1-0 lead in the race-to-four series.
Beyond yet another impressive outing, Jones was happy with how TNT as a whole played versus their rivals. In particular, he cited the way they executed on defense, where they forced SMB into 18 turnovers.
Defense was also the major key in their pull-away in the first quarter. The KaTropa uncorked 18 straight points to flip a two-point deficit to a wide 35-19 advantage at the end of the period, which then kickstarted the rout.
“I think we came in with a great game plan to try to you know, defensively not let any of their shooters get any open opportunities, and our guys stayed home. And I think that that helped us out, getting defensive stops,” said Jones, who had three blocks.
“I just wanted to be a big help, defensively, for my guys when guys like Chris [McCullough] or any of their guards penetrated. I just wanted to be there to help, and make things difficult,” he continued.
“I think that helped us get deflections and get steals, which led to us getting easier buckets in transitions and finding guys.”
