Baser Amer walked into Smart Araneta Coliseum Friday carrying a proverbial blank sheet.
His 0-of-6 shooting night in Game 3 was a thorn in his side and he knew he had to start making his attempts if he hoped to help Meralco tie the series at 2-2.
He ended up contributing 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting to help the Bolts take an 85-83 win against Ginebra in Game 4 of the PBA Governors’ Cup finals.
“The coaches are there, my teammates are there to help me,” said Amer in Filipino. “They were there for me the last three games and they’re always motivating me to help bring back my game.”
And of Amer’s 11 points, none was bigger than the three he put up with 1:18 remaining in the game that gave Meralco an 81-80 lead, a shot head coach Norman Black essentially called as the “game-winner.”
“That was a big shot by Baser from the corner, actually you can say that was the game-winner,” said Black.
Amer’s shot, however, wasn’t his to take as the play was originally designed for Allen Durham to try to get two points in the interior after Black called the timeout with 1:32 remaining.
Durham, though, was hounded inside and he found the open Amer who had no defender within five of him.
And Amer was ready to bail out Meralco in whatever way he can.
“When I entered the floor off the timeout, coach Jimmy [Alapag] and coach Ronnie [Magsanoc] told me to just shoot it if I find myself open, and it just happened,” said Amer.