AGONY OF DEFEAT
PH Cup Finals loss a learning experience – Lee
Magnolia guard Paul Lee said the team’s PBA Philippine Cup Finals defeat to San Miguel Beer should not be considered as a failure due to valuable experience gained during the hard-fought championship series.
“For me natuto kami from last year na nakalaban namin sila (For me we learned a lot from the time we played them in the Finals last year),” said Lee following a 72-71 loss to the Beermen in Wednesday’s Game 7 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“Maybe not this time, siguro
darating din yung time namin (Maybe not this time, but our time will come).”
“But for sure natuto kami sa series na ‘to, yung na-gain namin na experience… malaking bagay samin yun kahit natalo kami (But for sure we learned a lot in this series, we gained the experience… it’s big for us even though we lost the game),” added Lee. Despite entering the series as underdogs, Lee and the Hotshots pushed the now five-time champion Beermen to the limit, even taking an 88-86 victory in Game 5 on Mark Barroca’s buzzer-beater.
Game 7 saw Magnolia lead by 17 points in the third quarter, only to see San Miguel stage a comeback. The Hotshots had chance to win the game in the final seconds but missed attempts by Ian Sangalang and Jio Jalalon proved crucial.
“Yung mga ganitong klase ng experience magandang baon sa amin to for next conference (This kind of experience is good, which we can bring next conference),” said Lee as he looks forward to the Commissioner’s Cup which starts Sunday.