Devance relishes break from guarding hulking Smith

Ginebra’s Joe Devance. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Joe Devance heaved a sigh of relief after getting a short break from defending the heftier Joshua Smith Thursday night.

Smith played just nine minutes before complaining on a pain on his right foot, forcing TNT to go all-Filipino from the midway point of the second quarter to the end of the game.

“Just the minutes that I had on him was tough. He’s huge, he’s the biggest player I played, by far,” said Devance, who was tasked to battle Smith for the series.

Without the hulking reinforcement, Ginebra ran away with a 125-101 win to take Game 3 and avoid a sweep, extending the series to another do-or-die Game 4 on Saturday.

Devance also took advantage of the chance as the veteran forward had much more gas to contribute to the cause of the squad and finished with 10 points, five rebounds, and three assists in the victory.

But he hopes nothing but the best for Smith, saying: “He’s a great player, he seems like a great guy, and he plays well in their system. I heard he got injured. I hope it’s nothing serious.”

Regardless of the situation surrounding TNT’s reinforcement, Devance believes that the Gin Kings were just the better team in Game 3.

“I think we played a lot better and I think we’re more prepared today. In both games, we had chances to win the game and I just think we had mental lapses. Today, we kind of manned up, had each other’s backs, and played a lot better,” he said.

Devance is looking to ride this wave of momentum going to Game 4 on Saturday, where he expects a loud Cuneta Astrodome crowd to back Ginebra in the do-or-die tiff.

“It’s rowdy at Cuneta and it’s always for us. But we just got to go out here and get this next game,” he said. “I’m not worried about Game 5, I’m worried about Game 4. We got to get this Game 4, play harder, play smarter, play together, and we’ll see what happens.”