That seemed to have been Jared Dillinger’s mentality in Meralco’s Commissioner’s Cup game against Phoenix on Sunday.
After failing to make easy layups, the veteran wingman buried the go-ahead three-pointer that enabled the Bolts to eke out a 90-87 win, their fourth straight in the midseason conference.
“I missed all my layups today,” Dillinger admitted in a chat with Spin.ph after the game. “Usually I make all my layups, but however it takes to get the win (I’ll take it).”
The lefty guard-forward had two chances from long range to put the Bolts up for good, with his first one from the right corner rimming out, only for import Arinze Onuaku getting the offensive board.
“I knew it was off,” Dillinger admitted. “I’m just happy I got one more opportunity. Arinze had the faith in me to shoot it again, so as soon as he got the rebound, he ran right to me, handed me the ball, and told me to just shoot it.”
“As soon as I shot the second one, it felt good, so I already knew that one was going in,” he added.
As a result, the Bolts remained unbeaten in the midseason tournament to move a win away from matching their best start in franchise history.
“But it’s still a long ways to go,” Dillinger said. “Four-and-o doesn’t mean anything. It matters what we do in the playoffs.”
“I’m happy that we’re four-and-o, but at the same time, we haven’t proven anything yet,” he added.