Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—It’s easy to pinpoint Chris Ross’ missed three in the dying seconds of San Miguel’s 92-90 Game 3 loss to Phoenix in the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals as his biggest regret on Sunday.
But it wasn’t.
Ross said it was his two “foolish fouls” that were his biggest mistakes of the match that allowed the Fuel Masters to get to a 2-1 series deficit in the best-of-seven matchup.
“I’m not even thinking about the shot, the two foolish fouls before that, which gave them the points,” said Ross Sunday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“I just fouled them and put them on the line. The shot is secondary. It would’ve been nice if it went in, but the two foolish fouls before that, I didn’t give my defense a chance to get a stop and it’s just stupid on my part.”
Ross fouled Matthew Wright two times in the final 49 seconds of the game with the Fuel Masters star sinking all four of his charities to give his team a 90-86 lead.
San Miguel trimmed Phoenix’s lead to two, 90-88, after June Mar Fajardo’s quick layup with 22.9 seconds remaining.
The Fuel Masters then, left the door open for the Beermen after JC Intal missed his freebies with 15.4 seconds left, but Ross couldn’t get the triple to fall as time ran out.
“You all know what kind of team we have, we have a chance to win,” said Ross, who had eight points and five assists. “I just let my team down, so all that other stuff really doesn’t matter.”