How Jimmy Alapag's lesson helped Meralco's Chris Newsome in sinking crucial free throws vs San Miguel

Crucial free throws from Chris Newsome sealed the win for Meralco as the Bolts escaped San Miguel, 92-88, on Friday to take a 3-2 series lead in the PBA Philippine Cup finals.

Leading by only two, Newsome's freebies with six ticks remaining made sure San Miguel would have a hard time taking the win or at least forcing overtime.

Apparently, his former Bolts teammate and consultant Jimmy Alapag had a hand in Newsome's calm demeanor during the pressure-packed moment.

"Free throws, honestly, it's something that I've worked on. Since I came into the league, Jimmy Alapag was one of those guys that helped me out with understanding that free throws are a very crucial part to the game and ever since I got with Jimmy in my rookie year, I started a routine of shooting 100 free throws every single day," Newsome said on Friday.

Over time, Newsome said he improved with his free throw as it became somehow like muscle memory to him, making him confident and calm in shooting the crucial free throws.

"Without all those reps, I wouldn't be as confident as I am now. Since I've shot free throws over and over every single day in practice, it becomes second nature and basically in those moments, whenever the game is in the line, or big moments like that, I just rely on my muscle memory and my routine and just trust my work."

On Surprise Guest with Pia Arcangel, Jimmy Alapag shared his thoughts on coaching.

"When you're coaching, you know, you do your best to encourage, you know, the players that you work with, and help them prepare as best as possible. But at the end of the day, once the game starts, you know, it's out of your control, you know, you're just there to maybe point things out or, or show something on video, but the game's moving so fast, you know, I think it's, it's tougher to, to actually be out there and in between the lines," Alapag said.

Meralco moved a win away from its first All-Filipino title and it will try to close the series on Game 6 on Sunday.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News