Averaging 25 points in the last two games, including a 28-point performance on Sunday night where he hit the game-winner, Lee wants just one thing to happen when he and the Hotshots shoot for a share of the PBA Governors’ Cup lead against Columbian at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“I just hope to wake up on the right side of the bed again,” Lee told reporters in Filipino after a 109-108 decision of the Beermen where the Hotshots scored five unanswered points inside the last 51 seconds. “But more importantly, we just hope to play really well as a team.”
That match against the Dyip tips off at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday also at the Big Dome. Rain or Shine unveils a new import in Terrence Watson in the 7 p.m. game against Alaska where the Elasto Painters hope to break through in the season-ending conference.
Magnolia is tagged as the overwhelming favorite against the Dyip, not only because of Lee and its power-stacked local core, but because import Romeo Travis has been providing the team everything it has asked of him.
The Dyip are among three winless sides in the conference and at 0-6, could become the tournament’s first casualty with another defeat.
The Hotshots have won their last two games, the other one against Rain or Shine, which prompted the Painters to make an import change, dispatching J’Nathan Bullock and giving Watson another tour of duty in Asia’s pioneering pro league.
Watson played for San Miguel last year, failing to lead the Beermen to a Grand Slam most everyone expected them to achieve. He averaged close to 24 points and just over 11 rebounds before bowing out in the Final Four.
But the problem besetting the Painters in losing their first two games is simply the fact that their core just came from national duty, representing the Philippines in the Asian Games in Jakarta where they finished fifth.
Still, coach Caloy Garcia, who also assisted Yeng Guiao on the bench in the Asiad, thought it better that Watson come in and give the Painters a more explosive offensive player.
“We need an import who can basically post up and grab rebounds,” Garcia said. “We also hope he can bring energy on the defensive end, too.”
The Aces, meanwhile, hope to bump up their 3-1 record to stay in step with the tournament leaders.