Ailing Ross on going all-out in Game 5: 'I just wanted it to end'

MANILA, Philippines — San Miguel Beer’s Chris Ross was so eager to wrap up their PBA Philippine Cup finals series with Magnolia on Friday night that he basically did everything you could imagine.

Hit shots, rebound the ball, orchestrate plays and even steal the ball.

And just like the spearhead of their offense in June Mar Fajardo, Ross did all of that while nearly pushing his body to the limit.

In almost an hour of basketball action, Ross flirted with what could’ve been the league’s first-ever quadruple-double. Just like the people unaware of the injury on his thigh, the Filipino-American guard was just as clueless with an almost historic night waiting for him.

“Don’t [remind] me that,” he said between a chuckle and a sigh. "You know I’m not the type of guy that cares about stats, I just want to win."

"But when you tell me that, it kinda hurts my heart,” he added. “I knew I was pretty active today. And I was pretty active, I had no clue. I’m not the type to look at stats ever."

Ross may have missed on a golden chance to become a lone entry in the PBA’s history books, but he and his teammates made sure they didn’t miss the bus to league immortality. Coming back from 23-down, they mounted a blistering fourth-quarter run to force an extra period — and another — to finish off their foes.

"I wanted to cry, man, like tears of joy,” Ross said of the victory that gave San Miguel its fourth straight Philippine Cup title. "How hard we worked over the past four years, the grit we had to overcome the deficit today, and I was just proud of my guys because they didn’t give up.”

"We had a terrible first half but at halftime me and Arwind kind of lit a fire on everybody and everybody responded,” he continued.

Asked again what pushed him in his insane activity on both ends of the court, Ross could only offer, “My gas tank. It’s on E.”

"I wanted to end it. I was telling my brother, I don’t know how much more basketball I can play. My leg’s killing me and I just didn’t want to [leave it to] chance it anymore,” he bared. 

"I really wanted to end it tonight. I told the coaches don’t give me any minutes restriction. Just let me play, I’ll fight through it. And lucky we made enough plays in the end to win the game,” Ross offered.

It just happened that his performance, which accounted for 13 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists, and eight steals, was just a bonus to was eventaully a grander prize.

The title puts the San Miguel side-by-side with the Crispa team of old as the only teams to have won four all-Filipino conference titles. 

But given the chance to chase a rare individual accolade anew? Of course, Ross would want another crack at it.

"Hopefully, I’ll have another opportunity to do it, that’s all I can say about it."