It's a no-brainer that Magnolia guard Paul Lee loves coffee.
Aside from being the "Lethal Weapon," he has re-established himself as the "Lethal Coffee" after entering the PBA bubble in Clark, Pampanga as coined by his teammate Jackson Corpuz.
Perhaps not a day goes by without Lee taking his coffee fix and that's pretty much obvious on his social media.
On the first few days at Quest Hotel at Mimosa, the 31-year-old veteran guard would make latte arts of different forms and enjoy it with Corpuz, who's also his roommate.
But before Lee set foot in the bubble, he had to regulate drinking coffee as part of his diet on road to weight loss. When food delivery came back to operations with lighter quarantine implementations in Metro Manila, Lee also found it hard to say no.
"Start sa disiplina sa sarili," Lee said during Thursday's PBA media availability. "Doon kasi mag-start kung papaano magpakondisyon kasi syempre nag-open 'yung mga delivery ulit 'di ba? So mahirap naman hindian yon tapos meron ka pang misis (Rubie Chua-Lee) na nag-aaya sa'yo laging kumain magpapa-deliver lagi ng ganito. So ayun, dinisiplina ko lang talaga sarili ko."
Eventually, the Gilas stalwart learned that a good workout must be complemented with a good diet. And it became a daily routine for Lee, who was seen working out every day, covered in sweat, as posted on Instagram.
"Nag-start ako nag-timbang ako 215 and then nag-reach ako pinakamababa 188 or 189. And then ngayon nilalaro ko na lang siya between 191 to 195," said Lee, who started shredding off his weight mid-May.
Going back to the bubble, Lee would resort to his own rookie "barista skills" with fresh coffee beans from his brother, a barista who also runs an online coffee business.
"Tsaka gumagawa na siya ng sariling kape niya," Magnolia coach Chito Victolero quipped. "'Di na siya nags-Starbucks."
As a coffee lover, Lee admitted that it has to be one of the biggest hurdles he had to overcome. "Syempre yung binibili ko na coffee ang daming sugar nun e, 'di ba? So ngayon 'yung sugar, muscovado na 'yung ginagamit ko ngayon."
Looks like his months of burning calories came into fruition as Lee lifted the Hotshots past the NLEX Road Warriors 103-100 Wednesday night with a four-point play off Tony Semerad's sixth and final foul in the waning seconds of the payoff period.
This time, he wouldn't worry much about maintaining his ripped arms and chiseled physique since the PBA has prepared tighter schedules and consecutive games.
Perhaps eating a burger for dinner won't harm his diet.
"Wala kang guilt na mararamdaman kasi alam mo agad na kinabukasan mababawi mo siya kaagad," said Lee.