STEPHEN Holt has gratefully embraced his role as Barangay Ginebra's designated defender against TNT's super import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson all the while helping the Gin King offensively.
"There's no secret how much I want to win. Whatever I gotta do to help this team," said Holt after the Gin Kings hammered out a masterful 106-92 romp that tied up the PBA Governors' Cup title series at 2-2.
"I know I'm called an import stopper, but we're not really stopping Rondae, we're just trying to make it difficult. And we've done a great job these last two games, and we just got to do it for two more."
Coach Tim Cone even credited Holt as a major key that has enabled the Gin Kings to draw level with the Tropang Giga just as fast as the defending champions sent them to a 0-2 hole.
"We keep saying Rondae is special and he creates so much havoc on the floor, defensively, on the boards but he also creates a lot of shots for his teammates. But I think the biggest key for the last two games has been Stephen and the defense he's been able to play over the last two games," said Cone.
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"As amazing as Rondae is, Stephen's doing an amazing job as well so this has been one of the huge keys of why we're back into this series," he added.
Holt held RHJ to only four points in the final canto out of his 28 total to cap a Player of the Game-earning performance of 18 points spiked by four triples, three rebounds, two assists and five steals.
"That's just been the biggest challenge for me in this series. Obviously, it takes a lot of energy on the defensive end - mentally and physically - just to lock in on that matchup individually, one-on-one defense, but also within the team scheme and so that's kind of taken away a little bit of my aggressiveness offensively," said Holt, who actually played through sickness in the initial skirmishes but is now fully recovered.
"The first three games, I passed some open shots that I knew I needed to shoot and last Sunday, I didn't want to pass up any of those shots. I was able to make some big time shots. My teammates found me when they needed to and I did my job and was able to be more aggressive and put up more points."
Holt said his competitive spirit and leadership will continue to fuel him as the Gin Kings try to wrest control of the series on Wednesday and ultimately dethrone TNT.
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"At the end of the day, I just got to continue to show leadership, continue to lead my guys on the defensive end and not get discouraged when Rondae hits a tough shot," he said.(OL)
