All that Shabazz helps Hotshots avoid Dyip upset
Shabazz Muhammad finally got his debut for Magnolia on late Thursday night and expressed satisfaction over not just saving the Hotshots from an embarrassing upset to a hapless Terrafirma Dyip with a game-winning basket in the dying seconds.
“I love the PBA and I think this fits my game with one import and I like to score the ball,” Muhammad said after the 99-98 victory where his lefty runner with 8.1 seconds left over Andreas Cahilig past the foul line spelled the difference.
“I’m really happy with this team, really happy going forward. We’re still trying to get our rhythm, but we’re happy that we took care of business tonight,” added Muhammad after helping Magnolia stay in solo third in Group A with a 4-3 record.
That prevented Magnolia from falling into a three-way tie with NorthPort and Converge, brewing rivals sharing similar 3-4 slates. After TNT on Tuesday, Magnolia takes on NorthPort on Sept. 20 and Converge on Sept. 23.
This is the second tour of duty in the PBA for Muhammad, albeit the previous was a short spell with San Miguel Beer in the same conference back in 2022. And he should have started the previous weekend down south, but a pending Fiba clearance prevented him from seeing action.
Without Muhammad, the all-Filipino Hotshots lost, 82-74, to the Meralco Bolts in Panabo, Davao del Norte, which the ex-NBA player described as “very frustrating.”
“We were really close to winning that game,” he said. “The locals played their butts off. They played really hard. and we were close to winning that game. I thought we could’ve really won that game if I had played. That would’ve been an extra win and helped us for the playoffs.
“But we can’t argue over spoiled milk now, we just got the win today. It was an ugly win for us tonight, but a win is a win, we gotta move on and keep going.”
The ugly manner was how Terrafirma came close to ending a 0-6 start in a miserable follow-up to its dream quarterfinal run in last season’s Philippine Cup.
Antonio Hester, who reinforced Magnolia back in the 2023 Governors’ Cup, carried the fight for Terrafirma while rookie Paolo Hernandez, capitalizing on the extended playing time with Juami Tiongson down with an injury, knocked down a three-pointer without hesitation.
That put the Dyip ahead by one, after the Hotshots went in front on a Paul Lee four-pointer. But Muhammad rose to the occasion with his go-ahead bucket to make it 20 points on the night, and the Hotshots eventually survived.
“We had a meeting and [coach Chito Victolero] told me what he expected from me and that’s the kind of things I do. Like I said, I kept my head going forward,” said Muhammad, who is expected by Victolero to be a take-charge guy following Magnolia’s switch from original import Glenn Robinson III.
