MANILA — If there is one basketball player that can epitomize the e-sports saying “Comeback is real,” that would be Jared Dillinger.
Dillinger delivered for Meralco when the team needed it the most, scoring 15 points on crucial baskets in each of the team’s two previous games.
The shots were so vital that they helped the Bolts come back from huge deficits to steal wins from the Blackwater Elite in the quarterfinals on Thursday and the Star Hotshots in their semifinal opener on Sunday night.
The heroics convinced the PBA Press Corps to name him the Accel-PBA Press Corps Player of the Week on Tuesday, hours before Meralco and Star clashed in Game 2 of the semis at the Sta. Rosa Multi-Purpose Sports Complex in Sta. Rosa City.
However, Dillinger, who prevailed over teammates Baser Amer and Chris Newsome, TNT’s Jayson Castro, and Ginebra’s Joe Devance, downplayed the award and credited it to his fellow Bolts.
“[The Player of the Week award is] a nice word, but I couldn’t do it without my teammates. They are looking for me and giving me confidence to shoot those threes, so I give that to them. It’s not me. It’s the team,” said Dillinger, who even bettered his Player of the Week performance with a game-high 18 points for Meralco in the Game 2 win.