Paul celebrates b-day with Lee-thal play over Mixers

MANILA, Philippines – Paul Lee got more than what he wanted on his birthday.

Lee, who turned 25 on Friday, wished to get Game One but made it more special by wrapping up his birthday gift to himself with the game winning shot.

He teamed up with Gabe Norwood in the final 1.6 seconds for the go-ahead basket – a dramatic alley-oop off the glass as the Rain or Shine survived San Mig Super Coffee, 83-80, in the Finals opener.   

“Alam ko na ang mangyayari nung dino-draw pa lang ni Coach Yeng (Guiao) ‘yung play eh. Alam ko na tao ko si Mark (Barroca).  Sabi ko kay Gabe, watch me baka ma-libre ako,” Lee told reporters after the game.

The original play was for Jeff Chan to go to the corner to get the inbound and live and die with his jump shot.  But as Lee anticipated, the Mixers guards got lost. 

“I heard Mark (Barroca) shouting at Alex Mallari to switch. So I set a strong pick kay Alex then I rolled to the basket,” Lee explained.

It was only Lee’s second made field goal out of eight attempts but proved to be the biggest of the night.  

“Nag-struggle ako buong game. Pero hindi ako gumive-up eh. Alam kong merong mangyayari eh. Now, I can greet myself a happy birthday,” Lee said.

Norwood said it was their first time to do that play.  

“I’ve never seen that play before. I don’t know where coach Yeng got that play but luckily he called it and it worked,” Norwood said.  â€œThey did a good job of designing a play where everybody was up high so basically I just tried to throw it near the basket and hoped that Paul will catch it and score.”

Lee preserved his heroics with the technical free throw awarded to them when San Mig Super Coffee coach Tim Cone called for a timeout, which they no longer have.

The stocky playmaker, who hails from Tondo, wound up with six points, three rebounds, two assist and same number of steals.