MANILA, Philippines – Most players get fed up and lose their cool battling Calvin Abueva’s mind games and physicality. But not Othyus Jeffers.
As the Barangay Ginebra import tussled with Alaska’s beast, Jeffers found himself thrown back in time to memories from his hometown of Chicago. And rather than blow his gasket, the 30-year-old NBA veteran relished battling against the infamous Abueva.
“I’m used to that. That’s how we play at home in Chicago. It felt great, refreshing,” he said following Ginebra’s 86-80 loss to Alaska on Wednesday, March 9 in the 2016 PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
The two players were trying to get in each other’s heads throughout the game, staring at each other at one point, fishing for fouls, and teasing one another. But somehow they both ended up laughing and brushing it all off.
Abueva, who is notorious for his in-game antics, battled foul trouble but uncorked plenty of energy and intensity in his 31 minutes on the floor. He finished with 17 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal and a block as the Aces shackled Ginebra to just 80 points all game, the lowest output by any team this conference.
Abueva was intense, but Jeffers found one other PBA player more physical.
“The twin from Globalport, (Anthony) Semerad,” he said grinning. “He’s probably a little bit more in shape than him (Abueva) and a little bit more physical.”
Alaska’s defense worked well on Jeffers, who missed his first 13 shots before finally connecting in the third quarter to finish with 21 points, 24 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal and a block.
“The import of Ginebra missed key shots, key turnovers, key passes, key rebounds and it cost us the game,” Jeffers owned up to his shortcomings without hesitation. “If I made the shots I normally make we would’ve blew them out.”
“We never run our offense with me having the ball up top and they clear out. That’s not how Ginebra practices basketball, that’s not how we play basketball. It’s the triangle offense and that wasn’t the triangle offense,” he explained further.
“I give Alaska credit for disorienting the team and making us do things out of character but we were still in the game, we found a way to compete. We lost the game.”
Despite the loss and dropping to 3-3, Jeffers held his head high and remained confident of the Gin Kings’ direction.
“We’re not holding our heads down. That was a great game for us as far as our confidence because that team’s been in the finals the last 3 times out of the 4 conferences,” he said. “We got 5 more games to go and I’m getting in a good place and wherever we gon’ be… teams need to look out.” – Rappler.com