Miranda proves NLEX not going away just yet with perfect game

Better late than never, they always say.

Once considered an afterthought in the 2020 PBA Philippine Cup, the NLEX Road Warriors are now back in playoff contention following a 124-90 demolition of the depleted San Miguel Beermen on Friday, November 6.

Big man Michael Miranda had the game of his life at the expense of the tired five-time reigning All-Filipino champs as he erupted for a career-high 22 points off the bench on a perfect 8-of-8 shooting and a 4-of-4 clip from three-point land.

For Miranda, the Road Warriors simply used this game to continue building their momentum, and prove that they are not bowing out of the quarterfinal race just yet.

“Siguro noong una kasi, ‘di pa namin makuha ‘yung tone namin eh,” he said in the walk-off interview. “At least ngayon kahit papano, gumaganda na ‘yung takbo. Sana magtuluy-tuloy na.”

(At first, we weren’t able to get our tone right. At least now, we’re running a bit better. Hopefully this continues.)

“Nakatulong din ang mga coaches namin, tsaka tulung-tulong lang kami ng mga teammates ko na maka-stop,” he added. “Ginagawa lang namin ‘yung trabaho namin dito sa PBA. Suwerte lang siguro ako ngayon.”

(We just helped one another to make stops, including our coaches. We’re just doing our jobs. I guess I was just lucky today.)

Whether or not Lady Luck smiled upon him tonight, this was Miranda’s first double-digit scoring game in the conference and he matched the 22 total points he scored in his last 3 games.

Prior to this eruption, his conference-best was a 9-point outing in their first win of the season against NorthPort last October 21.

As for head coach Yeng Guiao, he is just thankful that his big men are stepping up to complement his super scorer duo of Kevin Alas and Kiefer Ravena.

“We really have no choice. We lost Poy [Erram], so the others really need to step up,” he said. “Finding good big men is really hard because they’re prime commodities. You have to create your own big men.”

Sure enough, the Road Warriors are benefiting greatly from their good mix of shot creators from the perimeter and bangers down low.

Whether this revitalized lineup makes it all the way to the playoffs or not remains to be seen, but at least for now, the early returns have definitely been promising. – Rappler.com