Thornton sets aside personal issues to steer NLEX past Meralco

NLEX Import Al Thornton. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Al Thornton had to deal with a roller coaster of emotions leading up to NLEX’s game against Meralco on Friday.

Already dealing with a bum knee, the former NBA stalwart’s woes continued when his pregnant girlfriend started to feel ill.

“She wasn’t feeling well. She has issues on the ice. We went to a restaurant and she asked some of the water and she was throwing up and she was really sick and I was worried about her,” he shared.

READ: PBA: NLEX sends Meralco crashing to 2nd straight loss

That truly affected his play in the Road Warriors last game against Rain or Shine, which went the Elasto Painters’ way, 121-94.

After averaging 35.25 points per game, Thornton was limited to just 19 points in the defeat.

“Hindi nya nasabi sa amin kaya medyo bothered sya that day. He said sorry about it, nag-apologize naman, and we understand kasi paalis na yung girlfriend the following day so we don’t want to let her girlfriend travel,” added coach Boyet Fernandez. “I told him na lang na if you have some things that bothers you, you just have to let us know.”

With all of his problems temporarily set aside, Thornton went back to his old self on Friday, eviscerating the Bolts, 104-99, with his 38 points and 12 rebounds to help break the dry spell and pull his squad up to an even 3-3 slate.

READ: PBA: Thornton determined to tow Road Warriors to good start

“We just needed to win,” he quipped. “My motivation: we lost two games and we just needed to win. We’ve been playing bad.”

Though he’s still worried about his off-court issues, Thornton has his eyes set on the goal of helping NLEX advance deeper in the playoffs.

And for him, the game against the Bolts is a great start.

“We held Meralco to under a hundred points,” said Thornton. “If we continue to play defense like that and stay consistent like that, I feel like we can do well.”