The date was September 25, 2019. The UP Fighting Maroons were doing all Juan Gomez de Liaño things (the stepbacks, the alley-oops, the 3s)—except for Juan himself. He was hurting, struggling.
He just wouldn’t allow it though. Despite the injuries, Juan still came up with the big plays. All it took was a small window of opportunity: a steal, an open runaway, and a chance to take matters into his own hands.
Oh, Juan was serious. Deadly serious.
“I made the extra sacrifice to play in the last few minutes despite all the injuries I’m going through,” Juan said after that game. “I’ve faced injuries for the past five months. So I’m really thankful for my team. Even though I’m struggling, they still had trust in me.”
“I’m really glad I made the right decision.”
Aljun Melecio on the Last Time Juan GDL Won It for UP:
“It was a tough loss, we were competing the whole game but that turnover cost us the game.
I was expecting Juan to take that big shot. I mean that’s Juan. He got the guts to shoot that shot.”
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(Typography by Peter Andrew Prado; Art by Aljan Cuya)
