George Diamante continued to live up to the billing as the defensive linchpin of Colegio de San Juan de Letran, but against Lyceum of the Philippines University on Wednesday, the 6-foot-5 bruiser proved he can do more.
Diamante, who was the one of the two Defensive Player of the Year winners last year, dropped an all-around outing of 21 points, 16 rebounds, eight assists, four steals, and one block as the Squires cruised to a 3-1 card.
Diamante and head coach Allen Ricardo eventually revealed that the former's near triple-double outing was inspired by a pre-game pep talk from former Letran standout and big man Raymond Almazan.
"Na-inspire siya sa pagdating ni Raymond Almazan kaya gano’n ‘yung naging performance niya," Ricardo shared on the heels of their 88-79 victory.
"Ang daming naging challenges, kumbaga itong mga batang to kailangan habaan mo ‘yung pasensiya sa kanila eh."
(He was inspired when Raymond Almazan arrived that's why his performance was good. We had a lot of challenges, but you need to have a lot of patience on these kids.)
Diamante made sure to put into action the words he got from Almazan.
"Sabi niya sa akin may laro naman ako, ‘yung pagdedesisyon lang kulang ko at saka maturity," Diamante said.
(He told me that I can play, but I lack on decision making and maturity.)
Almazan, of course, is a respected big man himself. Although he wasn't able to get a championship at Letran, the 6-foot-8 Almazan had established himself as a prominent big man after having won the Defensive Player of the Year plum twice in 2012 and 2013.
"In-adjust ko lang ‘yung laro ko kasi lahat naman kami may laro, nasa pagsunod lang sa sistema. ‘Yun lang ‘yung tinuturo ng mga coaches," Diamante added.
(I just adjusted my game since we all can play, we just need to follow the system. That's what coaches are teaching.)
—JKC, GMA Integrated News
