By Jonas Terrado
Chris Ross stressed that there’s no need for the San Miguel Beermen to panic following the sluggish debut of new import John Holland in last Saturday’s stunning loss to the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu.
SMB’s John Holland, right, dribbles the ball as Rain or Shine’s Javee Mocon gets ready to defend. (PBA Images)
The former NBA player scored just 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting as the Beermen suffered a 91-85 loss that put their chances of securing a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals in peril.
San Miguel won’t see action until Nov. 20 when it wraps up the eliminations against TNT KaTropa at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City, giving Holland more time to get familiarized with the team after being signed at the last-minute after Wells suffered an ankle injury.
“He competes, he plays hard, he’s a really good passer and he’s really a good shooter,” said Ross of Holland, who added 10 rebounds and six assists in 37 minutes.
“He’s a nice guy who gets well with everyone. Moving forward, he’ll be a positive for us,” added Ross.
Ross said plenty of factors contributed to Holland’s struggles, especially after having to arrive from New York on the eve of the out-of-town affair.
“He flew in from a straight flight from New York which was a 16-hour flight,” Ross said. “He landed on Friday, and you how Friday traffic is, so he went from the airport to the PBA office (in Libis) to get measured. From the PBA office, he went to Makati for GAB and medical and everything. Then after that, he went back to the airport and got on the flight and landed in Cebu around 8:30 p.m.”
“So it was like a full 24-hour, maybe more of traveling and I think he slept for maybe two hours and then try to a play game in an out-of-town gym which is obviously the condition that is not what’s he used to.”
“So he tried to play an out-of-town game with no practice, no knowing hpw we play so he was in a lose-lose situation,” Ross added. “He did what he could. He played hard, he was out there playing for almost 40 minutes. I thought we couldn’t ask more from him.”
The defeat which saw Rain or Shine lead by a high of 22 points sent San Miguel in fifth at 6-4 going into the TNT match.
Barring a slip up from TNT, in third at 7-2, and fourth-running Barangay Ginebra which carries a 6-3 mark, SMB’s bid for a coveted Grand Slam will have to go through a rough road, that is being on the other end of the twice-to-beat.
“Right now our fate’s not in our hands. We need some teams to lose and we need to win so we’re just taking it day by day,” said Ross.
Source: Manila Bulletin
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