Paul Lee celebrated his 35th birthday in a heartbreaking fashion as Magnolia absorbed a 102-104 loss to San Miguel Beer in Game 6 of their Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup best-of-seven finals series late Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Lee said it was his “saddest birthday,” but he still has a lot to be thankful for as the Hotshots had an impressive campaign in the eliminations before nearly snapping their six-year title drought.
“Probably the saddest birthday for me, but I still have a lot of things to be thankful for,” said Lee following the game that saw the Beermen lifting their 29th title.
“First of all, the game finished with nobody getting injured.”
Lee, who fired 25 points, spearheaded the early Game 6 assault in which they erected 13 points in the third period, 54-67, and 11 points in final quarter, 79-90.
But the Hotshots suffered a meltdown with Best Player of the Conference CJ Perez taking over while Chris Ross and Jericho Cruz provided some clutch baskets in the crucial stretch to seal the victory.
Still, Magnolia head coach Chito Victolero said they have nothing to be ashamed of.
“Proud of the effort. We might have fallen short but we prepared hard for this,” said Victolero, who missed the presence of veteran Mark Barroca who was slapped with his sixth foul in the final 2:17 mark of the game with the Hotshots up, 98-92.
“I have nothing more to say to them because of their effort. We had some lapses in the last six minutes. We missed Mark Barroca’s stability when he fouled out.”
Import Tyler Bey agrees, saying that this will definitely not his last chance to shoot for a PBA title.
“I love the Philippines, I love Magnolia. We didn’t get the result that we wanted, but I just felt like we have a group of guys that I could call family,” Bey, who scored 18 points, said.
“For sure, no doubt. I would love to come back.”
