Black sees Shabazz's scoring exceptional

Black sees Shabazz's scoring exceptional

Black sees Shabazz's scoring exceptional
PBA

Black sees Shabazz's scoring exceptional

Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Google Plus

NO wonder Meralco has its eyes first set on Shabazz Muhammad. The Bolts watched Muhammad put on a display of shooting clinic in the second half of their 115-110 heartbreaker against the San Miguel Beermen in a showdown between two giant contenders in the PBA Governors' Cup.

Held to a slow start, the former NBA first round pick suddenly caught fire in the final two quarters and exploded for 45 big points to spearhead San Miguel's amazing comeback from the depths of a 26-point third quarter deficit.

Muhammad, 29, finished the game with a season-high 57 points on 5-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc, besides grabbing 19 rebounds in the come-from-behind victory that sealed San Miguel's place in the quarterfinals.

Meralco coach Norman Black has nothing but respect to the talent of Muhammad, who torched the team he was supposed to play for at the start of the conference.

"We run to a very gifted and talented import," admitted the 64-year-old mentor, a two-time PBA Best Import awardee. "We haven't seen a guy score 57 points in a long, long time. So he certainly was exceptional.

"Initially, that was our import, the reason why we tried to recruit him."

The output of Muhammad, who played five seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves, was the most by a San Miguel import since Tyler Wilkerson scored 58 points in a 131-127 triple overtime win over NLEX in the 2016 Commissioner's Cup, according to league chief statistician Fidel Mangonon III.

Incidentally, during that same game, Road Warriors import Al Thornton, also a former NBA first round draftee, exploded for 69 big points in a losing cause.

Muhammad was originally set to reinforce the Bolts for the season-ending meet, but a last-minute development on the part of the NBA veteran had the partnership failing to materialize.

Meralco had since tapped the service of Tony Bishop, who has so far led the team to a 6-4 record and eyeing a playoffs berth. (RG)(PBA)

(Photo credits to: PBA)