No good night’s sleep for Miller after crucial miss in Barako Bull loss

Willie Miller: Bad when it comes to freethrows. PBA file photo by Nuki Sabio

MANILA, Philippines — You can bet Willie Miller won’t be sleeping soundly tonight, not after crucial misses from the stripe in Barako Bull’s sixth straight setback on Friday.

With the Energy trailing by three with over a minute to play, Miller, whose early trey sent the game into OT, had a chance to make his heroics count anew.

He was fouled by Larry Fonacier as he was launching a triple, and all Miller needed to do was nail all three attempts on his first trip to the line that night to give Barako Bull a shot at the win.

But the 36-year-old veteran painstakingly clanked all of the freebies, and the Texters got away with an 87-80 victory while the Energy extended their losing skid.

“Badtrip na badtrip ako,” Miller emphatically told reporters after the game at the Mall of Asia Arena. “Sa freethrow line na yan ako parating natatamaan.”

(I really feel bad. I always do bad from the freethrow line.)

“First attempt, masyadong matigas, pangalawa nag-adjust ako pero kapos; tapos yung pangatlo mintis na naman. Bobo yata talaga ko sa freethrows,” Miller added.

(First attempt was too stiff, I adjusted in my second attempt but it was short; the third one I miss again. Maybe I’m really bad when it comes to freethrows).

Miller admitted that he wanted so bad to make up for his blunder that he just wanted to throw a triple, but saw JC Intal with a clearer shot and dished out the ball instead.

Intal, though, missed with wide-open triple with 36.9 seconds to go.

“When I got the ball after the miss, I really wanted to shoot the three, I wanted to erase my missed freethrow, but I have to give the extra pass,” Miller said.

He finished with a team-best 16 points along with 10 rebounds, but what Miller will remember is the 0/3 freethrow shooting clip, the bad passes and the turnovers.

“I blame myself. Every error in every quarter, I remember everything after the game. When I get home, I will replay it on my head over and over,” he said.

The Energy get another crack at ending their tailspin as they face the Meralco Bolts on Sunday, three days before Christmas day.

Though they will only have a day’s preparation, Miller sees it as a good thing.

“At least we only have tonight and tomorrow to think about this loss,” Miller said with a smile. “Hopefully we could adjust and prepare. We need to win so we could have a happy Christmas.”