MANILA, Philippines – Shabazz Muhammad is not closing his doors on a possible PBA comeback.

The former NBA player said he will ponder on his brief Governors’ Cup stint after he and San Miguel crashed out of the quarterfinals following an 85-100 loss to twice-to-beat Meralco on Friday, March 18.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t win the championship. It really hurt me we lost that game,” said Muhammad. “It’s definitely something that I’ll look into the future of coming back here and trying to win a championship.”

“That’s something that’s going to be on my mind now.”

Muhammad was a force of nature in the elimination around as he averaged 39 points and 19 rebounds in three games, including a 57-point and 19-rebound masterpiece in their sterling comeback win against the Bolts.

But with Meralco devising a stingy defensive plan against Muhammad in time for the playoffs, the former Minnesota Timberwolves found it difficult to produce the same lofty numbers.

Muhammad still put up 24 points and 15 rebounds, but he struggled mightily from the field as he shot 8-of-19 overall and 0-of-6 from beyond the arc.

“I think they definitely did a great job of strategizing a defense on me. I think they were like in a box-and-one. It kind of frustrated us,” Muhammad said.

Muhammad also lamented not being able to join the Beermen earlier as they narrowly missed out on a twice-to-beat bonus, with the American yet to spend a whole month in the Philippines.

San Miguel finished with the same 7-4 record as TNT and Meralco but settled for the No. 5 seed due to an inferior quotient.

“I told coach, I think if I was here in the beginning of the season, we wouldn’t even be in this position,” said Muhammad, the third import the Beermen fielded this conference after Brandon Brown and Orlando Johnson.

“With a couple more games under my belt and getting some more practice in, I think we’ll be fine in the long run, if that happens.”

To make the most out of his short stay, Muhammad plans to visit some of the popular tourist spots in the country, most notably Boracay.

“All in all, I played pretty well here and it’s a great league and it’s a very physical league and I definitely respect the league, respect everybody in the PBA.” – Rappler.com