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Othyus Jeffers never said die.
Hurting back and all, Jeffers fought through the pain to tow Ginebra to its first win in the 2016 PBA Commissioner’s Cup on Sunday.
Jeffers scored 38 points and grabbed 20 rebounds to lead the Kings over the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters.
“It’s basketball. It’s either it breaks you down or you fight through it,” said Jeffers after the Kings’ 103-92 victory.
The 30-year-old import shared it was Beau Belga who gave him the sting of his back spasms,
“I think I preyed two fouls before he even did it. I pump faked and maybe thought he was a mushy big guy and I can take it, but he was solid. I felt every bone in my back cracked. He hit me twice. He landed on me and I tried to run through, he gave me a nice one to pop it back the other way. By the time that I got to the bench, I broke down, but that’s basketball.”
Still, despite the pain, all Jeffers could think about is the sense of relief after winning that first game for the Gin Kings.
“Today was a great team performance. The number one thing we did compared to the other games was we played defense. Today, we got stops and we got the win,” he said. “That’s what I came here for, I came to get wins.”
“It feels good, but I’m not satisfied. I’m hungry. I’m on a mission and it’s to get this team past the place they were last conference, and God-willing, the team stay injury-free.”
Winning really boosts one’s confidence, and Jeffers, this early, is excited with what the future holds for Ginebra.
“We’re going to be tough in the playoffs. If we play defense, we can beat anybody,” he said, and that starts on Sunday against fierce rival Star.
“We got a big game next week,” said Jeffers. “Coach told us, he has this little saying of, ‘Next play.’ There’s game over with, we throw it behind us. We’re 0-0 and we’re going to get another win. We started out 0-2, but we walked in this court with a clean slate and it’s time to make our run.”