For my dearest 2021 Magnolia Hotshots…
It’s not a lost season after all.
Clock has expired. Confetti all around the place. There are two sides in one frame — one is celebrating a triumphant moment of their professional careers and the other, distraught and defeated.
That’s the exact same scene I had to watch — and bear — as my team, the Magnolia Hotshots can’t seem to find ways to figure out the consensus best team of this conference, the eventual champions TNT Tropang Giga in the fifth game of the PBA Finals this year. That was the latter’s first hardware in a long while, six long years to be exact.
And for us Hotshots faithful, we are about to embark in an offseason of hopes and uncertainties and dealing against truthers about our failed championship run.
But let us take a catwalk back to how things went down to this promising redemption season for the franchise we’d love rooting for.
First of all, clinching that Finals ticket we badly longed for this conference already quantifies to redeeming ourselves after a Matthew Wright made clutch trey cut things short for an equally-promising playoff run in a pandemic-struck 2020 bubble season. I admit, the ghosts of that one haunted me for the most part this season.
They definitely earned their way back, starting the season unbeaten in four games, and continued to play their hearts out down the stretch, setting up a quarters matchup vs familiar foes Rain or Shine that they eventually won.
Faced in the semis against a Meralco team that ended their win streak after that Chris Newsome getaway layup, they never wavered and earned their shot at redemption.
Only thing was, Mikey Williams and this very TNT team were in the way. You gotta give it to Chot Reyes and his squad, though. We never underperformed actually. They just had every move of ours checked.
Also, Calvin Abueva. Enough said. Man, when I heard of the news that he’ll be suiting up the Pambansang Manok blues and whites last February, I was extremely optimistic. Extremely optimistic for a guy I actually despised so much because of course, he’s a punk and another, his trademarked hustle and grit. But the optimism despite that is not because of some double standard, it has a basis to begin with. Abueva, once sentenced publicly and even by the Association for his in-game antics, I quite remember a lot actually, has shown some significant improvement in his behavior as a Fuel Master last conference.
And to cap things off, he was recognized as the conference’s Best Player in his first year donning the Pambansang Manok colors.
Other players also need a space here.
Mark Barroca and Rafi Reavis, two of the remaining pieces of the old glory era, are still going with their leading ways and sharing the baton for the Magnolia orchestra.
Paul Lee continued to be an offensive firepower, drilling shot after shot.
Ian Sanggalang’s inside presence and old school ways to manufacture shots have finally earned the Best Player of the Conference attention.
The rooks and new faces also showed up — from Jerrick Ahanmisi, Aris Dionisio, Loren Brill, Alvin Capobres, Ronnie de Leon, although some of them are still battling for a spot at the regular rotation.
The mainstays — from Reavis, Melton, Jio Jalalon, Jackson Corpuz, and Kyle Pascual — remained steadfast and helped steer this season to new heights.
And the entire coaching staff, led by an underrated tactician Chito Victolero, deserves a mention for doing an exceptional job of maneuvering this club post-Big 3 era.
Another thing, Magnolia is dealing from departures of their franchise cornerstones, PJ Simon in September of last year, and my personal stan Marc Pingris in May of this year. All of us Hotshots stans know how painful it is to bear, considering they’ve been with the team through thick and thin, and through that incredible Grand Slam feat back in 2014. But as they both said, you need to give it to the youngsters now. And they’re right. A transition from a troop of veterans to a bunch of newbies for the foreseeable future is imminent, and necessary.
And in the first season without both of them at the helm, we got there, and stood just chances away from winning it all. Well, c’est la vie.
This new era, albeit we fought a lost cause, is definitely on to reestablish the Magnolia dominance we used to witness and celebrate.
So, turns out, it wasn’t a lost season after all.
So, yeah, I am also missing Pinoy Sakuragi bully his way to the basket and clobber boards like his life depended on it, and the Scoring Apostle’s scoring prowess every time he checks in. But this new Magnolia team has something I’d remain faithful for, and this year just made it clear we’re about to witness those golden days once again. And I’m all for it!
Laban, Hotshots!
