Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net
Chris Ross welcomes the psywar between San Miguel and Magnolia with open arms as the 2018 PBA Philippine Cup Finals heats up.
“It’s fun,” he said after the Beermen’s 92-77 Game 2 victory over the Hotshots on Sunday.
With San Miguel holding an 82-68 lead in the final five minutes, Ross stole the ball from Robbie Herndon before ball-faking to the Magnolia bench. This led assistant coach Johnny Abarrientos to stand up and call out the reigning two-time Defensive Player of the Year.
Ross, however, said that what he did was nothing personal and he respects everyone on the opposing bench.
“I don’t do anything to disrespect anyone. If they feel like they have to dirty up the game, to try to get into my head or whatnot, I’m all for it. But I’m gonna play basketball how I know how to play basketball. And respect the people that I have to respect,” he said.
“It’s just a game. It’s not that serious. Basketball is just a game in the big scheme of life. If the opposing team wants to hate me, they can hate me all they want. As long as the guys in my locker room and their families like me as a teammate and as a person, I’m fine with that.”
Ross finished with five points, 10 assists, four rebounds, and two steals in the victory as the Beermen leveled the best-of-seven series to one game apiece.
“It’s huge for us,” he admits as both teams head to the Holy Week break back to square one. “You never wanna go on a long break coming off a loss. If you go to a long break, there’s a lot of thinking and a lot of overthinking. We’re such a prideful team and to lose a game up 20, in the Finals is never a good feeling. Us veterans took it upon ourselves to ride the ship a little bit and come in Game 2 and try to get the win. It’s a good thing that we were able to withstand their run in the fourth quarter and make the slight adjustments we needed to come out on top.”
Magnolia did stand up to Ross as Rodney Brondial gave him a hard shove to the back with 1:02 left and the game already beyond doubt, 90-74.
The Fil-Am defender, though, said that he’s ready for more of that in the coming games.
“I’m good. I’m a football player. They got me harder than that. I just got hit, I wasn’t looking, and I got to protect myself better,” he said.