MANILA, Philippines — Sophomore guard Stephen Holt may have been branded as an import stopper, especially as he had the unenviable job of trying to defend TNT's prolific import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson in the PBA Governors' Cup Finals.
But the 32-year-old standout from Saint Mary's knows very well it takes a "barangay" to contain the newly-minted PBA Best Import.
On Sunday, Holt churned out 18 points, highlighted by four triples, while making a big difference on the defensive end also after pulling of a personal-best five steals in the Finals to help the Gin Kings rout the Tropang Giga, 106-92, tying the best-of-seven title series at 2-2.
And admittedly, Holt said defending the 29-year-old Hollis-Jefferson has taken a lot of his energy.
"That's just the biggest challenge for me in the series (because) it takes a lot of energy on the defensive end," Holt told sportswriters, as he talked about the degree of difficulty defending Hollis-Jefferson.
"Mmentally and physically just to lock in on that matchup, individually, 1-on-1 defense but also within the team scheme, and so that kind of takes away a little bit of my aggressiveness offensively in the first three games (of the series)," he added.
While Holt shared there were moments during the first three games of the series he had to pass up the chance to shoot in order to focus on his defensive role, in Game 4, he took it upon himself to also be aggressive on offense when given the opportunity.
No wonder, the veteran European league combo guard stood tall on offense, especially in the second half.
The 6-foot-4 Filipino-American guard even knocked down a crucial three-point shot off a kick-out pass by Japeth Aguilar inside the final two minutes, which practically broke the hearts of of the Tropang Giga, while sending the pro-Ginebra crowd of 16,783 to frenzied celebration.
"Today I don't want to pass up any of those shots. I was able to make those shots when I needed to when my teammates found me," he shared. "I was able to be more aggressive and make more points in this game. At the end of the day, there's no secret to how much I wanna win."
"At the end of the day, whatever way to help this team, we made adjustments in Game 3 to try to make it difficult for Rondae," he added. "I know I'm called an import stopper, but we're not really stopping him, we're just trying to make it difficult. And we've done a great job these last 2 games, and we just try to do it two more."
Both squads take the much-needed respite for the next two days, before returning to action this Wednesday for Game 5 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Read The Rest at :
