Pnoto by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Charles Rhodes finally feels that he has a better grasp of the Philippine style of play now.
For a change, the 31-year-old import didn’t find himself in foul trouble when San Miguel played GlobalPort on Friday.
“Finally. It took me like 10 games to get used to it. Now I’m used and I understand it,” he said.
READ: Rhodes lifts San Miguel to top 2 seed
That helped him get his groove faster as he fired nine points in the first quarter to help the Beermen jump to an early 32-21 lead before imposing his might in the fourth period, scoring 19 of his game-high 34 points to help his side grab the top two seed with the 112-101 victory.
Rhodes said that it wasn’t easy adjusting to the game in terms of officiating, saying, “It was a process.”
The former Mississipi State standout found himself playing through five fouls in three of San Miguel’s last games.
But slowly, Rhodes seemed to have adjusted well with his surroundings, keeping his foul total in check as the Beermen racked three straight wins to end the eliminations.
“This is my first year playing in the Philippines and it was a process getting used to the referees, but I got it now,” he said.
With his head locked in, Rhodes is preparing for bigger wars in the playoffs, where he is expected to help San Miguel accomplish its lofty goals.
“This is what I came here for, to compete for a championship,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who we play. Come playoff time, everybody has got to be ready. You can be the last placed team in the bottom of the playoffs, but you can come out playing like the number one team. Everybody just got to have that mentality.”
“So for us, today was the day we got in our playoff mode. We just got to build off of that tomorrow in practice and keep that mentality.”