Arwind Santos moves into 10th in PBA all-time block leaders

Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Reaching personal milestones in his 500th career game, Arwind Santos is grateful he’s able to join some of the league’s greats in San Miguel’s 94-91 win over Mahindra on Sunday.

“Masaya ako dahil umabot ako sa ganoon. Hindi ko naman akalain na makukuha ko yun,” he said. “Kumbaga, kahit wala ka na sa mundo, nakaukit na yan sa istorya ng PBA.”

(I’m happy that I reached that point. I didn’t expect that I’ll achieve it. Even if you’re not already in this world, it’s already etched in the story of the PBA.)

Rejecting six shots, the former league MVP moved 10th in all-time blocks with 631 blocks, moving past Billy Robinson (627).

He also hauled down his 3,002nd defensive rebound to become the 14th player in history to have at least 3,000 defensive rebounds.

Matching these feats, Santos couldn’t help but look back at his idols growing up.

“I look up to coach Glenn Capacio, at his height, he’s small but he guards imports. Also Marlou Aquino, Benjie Paras, guys who are really known to block shots, as well as Jerry Codinera,” he said. “In the NBA, Dikembe Mutombo is my idol at that time.”

As happy as he is to reach these milestones, Santos’ focus remains on the team, as he hopes that sooner or later, San Miguel will figure out their struggles to dominate the field again this 2017 PBA Philippine Cup.

“May mga laro kami na parang yung ugali namin, parang ina-underestimate namin yung kalaban kasi alam namin kaya naming talunin eh. Parang minamadali namin, first quarter akala namin agad-agad bibigay sila,” he said. “Sabi nga ni coach Leo kanina, ‘Alam ko kaya nyo, pero hindi basta-basta matatalo ng ganyan-ganyan kagaya ng nilalaro nyo.’ Kailangan pa rin naming ibigay ang lahat, at kailangan nandoon pa rin yung respeto sa bawat isa.”

(There’s games where we tend to underestimate the opponent because we know we can beat them. We’re rushing the games and think that they’ll fold in the first quarter. Like what coach Leo told us, ‘I know you can, but we can’t beat them easily with the way you’re playing.’ We still have to give our best and remain respectful of our opponents.)