MANILA, Philippines– San Miguel’s defense was at its unflinching best while Chris McCullough took care of the rest as the Beermen secured a 99-94 victory and a pivotal 3-2 lead over TNT in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals Wednesday night.
McCullough, who replaced tested reinforcement Charles Rhodes, scattered 19 points in that blistering Beermen comeback including the go-ahead floater with 28 ticks left.
San Miguel’s sweet-shooting import, though, said he was pretty much unconscious as he pretty much single-handedly erased a 16-point deficit.
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“I don’t remember to be honest, but coach (Leo Austria) drew a play and I got a bucket. You do those things in practice,” McCullough told reporters after his monster outing adorned with 35 points and 22 rebounds.
But if not for his late-game exploits, McCullough had what he thought was a bad night, barely holding it together against counterpart and fellow NBA talent Terrence Jones.
“First half, I missed a lot of shots. A lot of easy shots. A lot of bad calls, I didn’t get the same calls (Terrence) gets but it is what it is,” he said.
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“We can’t really stop him,” he added of Jones, who compiled 35 points, 17 boards, and eight assists. “All we got to do is to contain him … He’s good, obviously.”
And that was exactly what the decorated San Miguel did to pull out a win.
“We need to get stops at a time and that’s what we did,” he said of the Beermen’s stinging fourth quarter defense that held Jones to just three points.
Asked if the series has zapped out the fight out of Jones, who serves as the most integral cog in the KaTropa scoring machine, McCullough said: “I hope not.”
“But I’m not worried about anything. Not worried about him. I’ll just try and go win championships,” he said. “We’re going to win this s—t.”