Lee’s dagger of a shot bailed out Big Beau

Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

BIG Beau Belga was in a jolly mood after emerging from the Rain or Shine locker room on Sunday night, grateful that Paul Lee had bailed him out by making the game-winning jumper in a 105-103 win over Alaska for a 2-0 lead in their Oppo-PBA Commissioner’s Cup title series.

He knew he wasn’t the one assigned to take the game-winning shot, as coach Yeng Guiao drew up a play that would have freed either Lee or gunslinger Jeff Chan from either corner in the last 27.3 seconds.

Guiao has a penchant for fielding untested players in pressure games, for making his go-to guys play decoy in crunch situations. This time, he put it all in jest.

“Inagaw ni Beau yung isang corner (Beau stole one corner),” Guiao said during the winning coach’s interview, flashing a wry smile. “The play was supposed to be for either Paul or Jeff, but Beau took the shot.”

This series has been a validation of Lee’s return to superstar form, of again being the leader of Rain or Shine and of his reputation as one of the best finishers in the league when the game is on the line.

And Belga said he was just all too willing to help Lee gain his status back.

“I actually set him up for that (game-winning) shot,” the 6-foot-5 Belga—easily one of Guiao’s favorite players because of his hard-nosed attitude—said in Filipino while letting out a laugh. “That was a pass.”

Lee happened to be at the right place at the right time, grabbing the rebound off Belga’s miss from three-point range and finding himself wide open with more than two ticks left to launch the winning jumper.

It was the second straight game that Lee played hero for the Painters and the third straight outing that he was adjudged as Player of the Game after leading the Painters to a 3-1 conquest of San Miguel Beer in the Final Four.

“That (two seconds) was a lot time for me (to take aim at the basket),” Lee would later say in Filipino. “I was just lucky that I was there (for the rebound).”

The Elasto Painters moved within two more wins of snapping a title drought that dates back to 2012, and they gun for a commanding 3-0 lead at 7 p.m. tomorrow when Game 3 is played at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Belga is an animated talker. But when reminded that the Painters got closer to winning just their second league title, he turned serious and told reporters what his real plans are, how he approaches each game to help Rain or Shine win.

“Whenever I get open, I will take that shot,” Belga said. “That attempt, when I released it, looked too straight I thought it was going in.

“And that’s the beauty about our team, you can never tell who will explode on one particular night. That’s our biggest strength.”