Mixers’ Yap makes amends for missed triple with game-winner

By: Mark Giongco - 10 years ago

San Mig Coffee’s James Yap speaks with reports after helping the Mixers take a 3-2 semifinals lead over the Barangay Ginebra Kings Saturday night before 20,026 screaming crowd at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Photo by Mark Giongco/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — San Mig Coffee swingman James Yap nearly made a game-tying triple from the left wing in Game 4.

Yap, the two-time PBA MVP, won’t settle for almost anything after being given another shot from the same spot just two nights after in a pivotal game of the Mixers semifinals series against Barangay Ginebra Kings.

“I had the same feeling I did when I had the shot in Game 4 and it didn’t go in,” said Yap, who missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer in the Mixers’ 82-85 defeat Wednesday night in Filipino. “It felt good the moment I released the ball and this time I made the shot.”

“It was a shot to make up for the one I missed in Game 4.”

Yap also said he wasn’t the primary option but only part of the play his head coach Tim Cone drew up.

“Actually, it was a play for Mark (Barroca) to drive and the defense collapsed and it freed me up to hit that triple,” recalled Yap, who had misfired on his first two attempts from beyond-the-arc prior to his game-winning basket with 13.4 seconds left in San Mig Coffee’s 79-76 win to inch closer to a Philippine Cup Finals appearance.

“It turned out to be the most important basket and that’s just basketball. You just have to keep shooting and eventually it will fall. I was open and I didn’t have a choice but to shoot it,” said Yap, who has not been himself offensively all conference long as he continues to deal with an elbow injury on his shooting arm..

Yap, who had 10 points but went three-of-15 from the field, doesn’t care much of his shooting percentages as long as he keeps attempting good and open shots and making the ones that matter.

The six-foot-three Yap, who turns 32 a day after Valentine’s, also added that despite being just a win away from the Finals, his team can’t afford to hold back especially against the top-seeded Kings.

“They are known to have that never-say-die spirit for a reason,” Yap said, bracing for a Ginebra fightback in Game 6 Monday night.