San Miguel head coach Leo Austria came to the defense of Robbie Herndon and lauded the quick-fire forward for redeeming himself following a costly turnover in regulation which enabled TNT to force overtime in their Game 3 clash of the PBA Philippine Cup Friday night, Aug. 26, at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Herndon fired timely shots both in overtime and late in regulation, including two crucial treys, to list eight points and help the Beermen hack out a 108-100 victory against the Tropang Giga.
Those contributions proved to be instrumental for San Miguel as Herndon only needed a few seconds in overtime to turn the tables after the error he made with 13 seconds left in regulation.
Upon inbound, the 29-year-old Herndon accidentally stepped outside the lane to which RR Pogoy is trying to find an open man to pass the ball to.
Austria, for his part, said it is an unlikely incident and defended Herndon, saying that what happened was unintentional.
"Nagkaroon ng lituhan 'yon dahil during time out, ang sabi ko, nagtatanong ako sa bench staff namin kung meron na kaming warning for delay pero wala pa," recalled Austria. "Pero I did not instruct them to make those kinds of things but he (Herndon) said na napaapak lang siya.
"It's not that usual thing na lalapitan mo, kita mo ang layo ng agwat niya but the referee, nabigyan niya ng chance na tumawag. Tinawagan siya so nagkaroon ng kaunting lituhan lang," added the Beermen tactician.
That turnover though might have changed the tides for TNT as Roger Pogoy sank a technical free throw en route to a 94-all deadlock as Jayson Castro missed a jump shot in the ensuing play.
If anything, Austria is glad that Herndon was able to redeem himself as soon as overtime began and managed to put up the big shots as the Beermen secured a 2-1 advantage in the best-of-seven series.
The 64-year-old Austria, an eight-time PBA champion coach, added that Herndon became the "big revelation" in tonight's game and he proved his eagerness to provide for the squad.
"It's might fault for not using him for a while for some reason. With his game tonight, I think it's a redemption from almost a loss namin tonight... I'm sure next time he will be in the rotation. He showed me what kind of player he is," said Austria.
Herndon suited up for eight minutes and 15 seconds and also secured four rebounds for SMB as June Mar Fajardo led all scorers with 27 points and 27 rebounds.
"I'm happy for him (Herndon) dahil na-rdeem niya 'yong sarili niya," added Austria. "After the game nga sabi niya, 'Coach, I'm sorry it's my fault.' Sabi ko, 'No, it's not your fault. It's part of the game.' And sinasabi niya na he has no intention to delay the game. It happens na napaapak siya doon sa line dahil pagtalon niya and they (referees) called a technical."