Arwind Santos taunts Anthony Semerad during the TNT-San Miguel quarterfinals game on Wednesday. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—Arwind Santos has made a name for himself as one of the PBA’s best defenders.
The San Miguel Beer forward has also mastered the art of getting under the rival team’s skin and inside the opposing players’ heads along the way.
He was in his element on Wednesday night in a knockout Game 3 against TNT.
Arwind doing Arwind things. Stuff which bare results that won’t be found on the stat sheets, but rather on his opponents’ irritated faces.
The more the KaTropa gave in to his antics, the more Santos became more effective.
Santos also had the last laugh with the Beermen rolling to a 96-86 win on its way back to the Philippine Cup semifinals.
“Ako, kahit hindi ako masyado naka focus sa opensa, talagang hindi nila ako iniiwanan din eh, ginawa ko yung part ko sa depensa tapos pambu-bully,” Santos said grinning after finishing with seven points and eight rebounds. “Gusto nila ng asaran hanggang sa dulo. Muntik na maging wrestling yung laban. Okay lang, sige ganun yan, kung yan ang gusto nila, walang problema.”
Santos spared no one that even the usually mild-mannered Jayson Castro reached his tipping point.
“Kanina nga si Jayson, inapproach niya ko, sabi niya, ‘Arwind, wag nang ganun, kasi bakit pa kailangan gawin yun, lamang naman kayo,’ ganyan. Kapag napikon yung mga kasama mo, di ko problema yun. Kasalanan nila yun. Sila napikon eh. Part ng game yun eh. Yun lang,” he said.
Santos also got into Kelly Williams’ nerve while the two were fighting for position on a rebound midway through the third quarter.
Williams and Santos got tangled up and the TNT big man slammed him on the floor out of frustration.
Santos laughed the incident off and attributed to just being “part of the game.”
“Nothing personal. Ano lang talaga, kasi gustung-gusto naming manalo talaga.”