Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
BOCAUE – With his confidence running high, Ryan Arana was confident he could nail the dagger.
With the game on the line, the veteran guard fired a three-pointer midway in the overtime period of the closely contested game between Mahindra and Blackwater, saw his shot’s arc and turned around, believing it was already a sealed deal.
Except that his shot fell short. Way short.
It was a moment reminiscent of Nick Young’s infamous irrational confidence three for the Los Angeles Lakers, eliciting much laughs from the fans inside Philippine Arena.
“I thought it would go in. I watched it on the screen, it was a big screen, and saw it was an air-ball. I couldn’t help by scratch my head,” he recounted with a laugh.
Fortunately, Arana had done enough to make up for the miscue, scrapping his way on the defensive end as Mahindra gutted out a 97-93 overtime win over Blackwater.
Though his badly missed three will go down as one of this conference’s head-scratching plays, Arana had no regrets for all the shots he had taken especially on a night where everyone got a chance to let it fly.
“Coach gave us a green light to shoot when we’re open. Before today, he was always chiding us every time we shoot, but this game, we changed our set-up so everyone can shoot outside. Coach didn’t berate me because of that air-ball, but rather told me to make up for it on defense.”
And what better time for that elusive win to come than on Christmas day with Mahindra looking at this win as a tipping point for a better performance come 2017.
“It’s a big thing for is because we don’t want to end up at zero. Our next opponents will be stronger so we have to prepare for them. Also, Boss Eric, he wanted to win because he says this is personal for him. He doesn’t want to lose this game. He told us if we lose, he’ll be mad at us so we don’t want that to happen.”
Arana may have ended the day as the butt of jokes, even trending on Twitter for his late game gaffe, but he and Mahindra still had the last laugh.