Beermen ‘played harder’ than KaTropa, says Smith

Joshua Smith

There’s no need for an expert to explain how San Miguel Beer beat TNT in Game 3 of the 2017 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals on Sunday night.

The numbers tell the whole story as far as KaTropa import Joshua Smith is concerned.

“We turned the ball over 23 times and they got 26 points off it. That’s the name of the game right there,” Smith said.

TNT played sloppy and had a hard time protecting the ball while San Miguel, which only committed 12 turnovers, was the opposite.

The hulking Smith went straight to the point and admitted that at least for Game 3, the Beermen were the better team after taking a 109-97 win to grab a 2-1 series lead.

“They played harder than us. I mean, we didn’t play our best today. We just gotta keep our heads up,” he said.

Smith also denied that San Miguel’s triple-team defense affected his performance for the second straight game, as he was still able to post 18 points and 14 rebounds.

“It doesn’t matter who’s guarding me. They can put whoever they want on me,” he said. “Every time I catch the ball, it’s five guys who are looking at what I do every time. Whether it’s (Charles) Rhodes, whether it’s June Mar (Fajardo), I’m still going to do what I got to do. And like I said, we just got to forget about it.”

The 24-year-old Smith said the series is far from over as TNT goes for the equalizer on Wednesday.

“We’re down 2-1, but it’s not over,” he said. “We just got to learn. Some guys are down. But like I said, the series isn’t over. It’s only 2-1 and we just got to keep going.”