Paul Lee brushes off losing tooth in Magnolia loss to San Miguel

MANILA, Philippines –The San Miguel Beermen needed to dig deep in the clutch to eke out a 90-89 win against the reigning PBA Governors’ Cup champion Magnolia Hotshots on Friday, October 11.

And that was largely because Paul Lee, as usual, was being a pest on offense as he alternated between clutch shots and crucial assists in the 4th quarter. 

However, Magnolia’s run came to a skidding halt as Lee faceplanted on the Mall of Asia Arena floor after a missed layup at the 3:06 mark. As the veteran guard was unable to shield his fall in the sudden crash, he ended up losing a tooth and was forced to watch from the sidelines until the final possession.

With Magnolia already missing import Romeo Travis after an apparent leg injury just two minutes prior, Lee’s absence was the emotional nail in the coffin as the Hotshots were held scoreless in the last two minutes of regulation. 

Despite the sorry loss, a face-masked Lee still gamely answered questions from the media after the game. 

“It hurts, but it’s okay,” he said after scoring 22 points in the losing effort. “Part of the game. That’s it.”

“Napag-usapan naman namin na hindi naman made-determine yung championship run namin with just one game,” he continued. “So mahaba pa yung conference. Marami pa namang games na matitira. Matuto lang kami sa game na ‘to and focus na kami sa next game.”

(We already talked about our championship run not being determined with one game. The conference is still long and we have a lot of games left to play. We just need to learn from this game and focus on the next.) 

The 30-year-old star already lost a tooth back in Game 3 of the 2015 Commissioner’s Cup Finals as part of a Rain or Shine squad going up against the TNT KaTropa.

Much like that finals game, Lee returned for the final possession of Friday’s contest as Magnolia still had one last shot to steal the win from the Beermen. However, it was not meant to be as San Miguel escaped unscathed with a 4-0 record. 

With Magnolia still having a lot of games left, Lee merely brushed off the pain as he gears up for a bounce-back win next Wednesday, October 16, against the win-seeking Blackwater Elite.

“Okay naman. Medyo dizzy lang noong una, buti naka-recover noong medyo nakapahinga konti,” he concluded. 

(It’s okay. I just got dizzy at first. Fortunately, I was able to recover when I rested a bit.) – Rappler.com