SAN Miguel Beer guard Jericho Cruz had two alter egos in the last PBA Philippine Cup finals.
For TNT, he was public enemy No. 1 after Tropang 5G team manager Jojo Lastimosa took him to task for what the pro league great deemed as “showboating.”
For his Beermen side, he was some sort of a hero.
When all the dust settled, the 6-foot-1 Cruz emerged as champion—with the finals MVP honors as cherry on top—thanks largely to San Miguel Corporation sports director Alfrancis Chua.
“Mino-motivate niya (Chua) ako every time na nagkikita kami na laruin mo lang iyong laro mo. Hayaan mo lang iyong haters mo kasi it’s just basketball lang naman. Hindi ka naman nananakit,” Cruz said. “Emotional lang ako na tao so doon ko nakukuha iyong energy ko, sa mga pag-celebrate doon ko nakukuha iyong power ko, iyong lakas ng loob, ganoon.
“I’m just very happy na nag-champion kami ngayon. Magpahinga ng konti and siguro waiting na lang kami sa kay coach kung kailangan kami babalik ulit,” he added.
SMB slammed TNT’s grandiose grand slam aspirations for the second time in history with a 107-96 victory in Game 6 of their best-of-7 championship showdown last week.
Cruz, 34, was good for 13.83 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 3.33 assists in the Big Dance to cop his maiden finals MVP plum.
“Kasi ang mangyari sa amin, hindi kami nakapag-playoffs noong the last conference tapos bumalik na si coach (Leo Austria). Actually, hindi nga kami nakapagpahinga kasi si coach, kahit sabi mo may baha, kailangan mo lang sa practice ka pero iyon, worth it naman,” Cruz said. “Tingnan mo naman saan kami ngayon kaya na-appreciate namin kay coach iyon.
“Simula pa lang ng off-season namin, talagang nakatutok siya sa amin from day one talaga. Kaya iyon, nagbunga iyong mga pinapagawa ni coach sa amin.”
The former Adamson University standout thanked SMC chairman and CEO Ramon S. Ang and Chua for plucking him from NLEX.
“Gusto ko lang din mag-thank you kay boss RSA tsaka kay boss Al, siyempre dahil kinuha nila ako sa NLEX,” he said. “Gumanda iyong buhay ko dahil napunta ako sa San Miguel.”
