The Road Warriors import admitted he was bothered by his pregnant girlfriend suffering a bum stomach on the day they were on the wrong side of a 27-point blowout at the hands of Rain or Shine last Friday.
“She wasn’t feeling well,” Thornton said of his girlfriend, who threw up after drinking local water at a restaurant. “She was really sick and I was worried about her. But she’s feeling fine now.”
Coming off a conference-low 19 points in 37 minutes against the Elasto Painters, Thornton bounced back in a huge way with 38 points in 38 minutes against the Bolts.
NLEX coach Boyet Fernandez said Thornton initially kept the problem to himself – and it showed in his dismal performance.
“Medyo hindi niya nasabi sa amin, kaya medyo bothered siya that day. He said sorry about it,” Fernandez said. “At least naayos naman namin. I told him na lang na if you have some things that bothers you, you just have to let us know. Kasi after ng game na lang niya sinabi that's why he rushed to his condo para maayos naman yung girlfriend.”
“And he promised to recover and it showed today,” Fernandez added, saying Thornton was also bothered by a minor knee injury.
“As of now kasi he's practicing without the brace, so nakikita mo yung effort na medyo okay na,” Fernandez said. “Maganda na yung kanyang development dun sa injury. And yung kanyang treatment nakatulong talaga sa kanya.”