Chris Ross had an eventful showing, to say the least, in the third game of the 2018 PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals Wednesday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
He suffered a nasty gash on his forehead before the end of the first half but, like the trooper he is, was able to inspire the Beermen to the 132-94 annihilation of the Gin Kings to take a 2-1 series lead.
Bloodied forehead and all, Ross finished with 23 points, on 7-of-13 from long range, seven rebounds, five assists, and four steals.
READ: PBA Finals: San Miguel clobbers Ginebra by 38 points for 2-1 lead
And Ross found his inspiration from an unlikely source.
“I played against Tim Cone long enough to know that he was going to challenge me today,” said Ross. “Last game I only took one shot, I prepared for that yesterday and I took a lot of shots. I knew they were going to challenge me to take shots today.”
Ross had a quiet Game 2 with zero points, three rebounds, five assists, and two steals in almost 29 minutes, although the Beermen still dominated in a 134-109 win.
“I just stepped up and shot with confidence. I knew we were shooting the ball early and my teammates kept passing me the ball, and I was open, I just kept shooting. Even if I missed a few in a row, I kept shooting.”
READ: Brownlee: Ginebra needs to ‘come out and fight’ after Game 3 blowout
Ross hit fever pitch midway through the third quarter when he went on a personal 9-2 run hitting three straight three-pointers to give San Miguel a 72-63 lead with 6:19 left in the period.
That shooting display came off less than half-an-hour of real time after Renaldo Balman’s elbows accidentally hit him before the end of the first half.
Ross said his wound did not exactly push him to play harder in the second half, but it was his self-confidence that made him go berserk in offense.
“It’s just a statement that I live by, ‘trust your work,’ because when you put in all the work and whatever you do in life, study or putting in hours of practice, if you don’t trust it when the time comes there’s no point if you put in the work,” said Ross.