By REYNALD MAGALLON
Poy Erram gets rewarded for staying ready
Hardly seeing court time in the past games, Poy Erram got rewarded by simply staying ready.
With TNT looking for an inside presence to ease the defensive pressure on their outside gunners, the 6-foot-8 center seized the opportunity and posted a conference-best scoring of 27 points — 21 of which he fired through the first two frames.
“‘Yung mindset ko lang talaga, just being ready. Kasi di mo alam kung kailan ko tatawagin ulit eh, diba? So, yun lang aggressive lang na makatulong in any way possible,” said Erram after helping TNT in the 102-83 Game 4 win.
Prior to the game, Erram only had a total of 10 points in the five games that he saw action this conference. But his touches weren’t really coincidental but actually by design according to head coach Chot Reyes.
“The reason why Calvin and Jordan weren’t getting their touches was because they did a great job denying. But when they do that, then it opens up the inside. And that’s why Poi did a great job capitalizing on that,” explained Reyes.
“If they want to stay home on Jordan and Calvin to limit their touches, that’s going to open up the inside for guys like Poi, Brandon, Henry, Galinato. And that’s just something that we took a closer look at,” added the veteran coach.
True enough, everything followed suit for TNT as after Erram had his way on the paint, looks opened up for both Jordan Heading and Calvin Oftana — two players who were contained by the Meralco defense in Game 3.
“Sabi niya ni coach, nag-stay sila sa kila Roger, kila Calvin. So ako, I’m just trying to be aggressive. And then luckily, nasa-shoot ko naman yung mga tira ko,” said Erram who had nine rebounds and three blocks as well.
“Sobrang blessed kasi yung mga teammates ko, kahit na hindi ako masyadong ginagamit, yung tiwala nila sa akin, lalo na yung mga coaches,” he added.
