MANILA, Philippines – It may already be too late, but Jordan Clarkson still savored his personal third-quarter surge that led to Gilas Pilipinas routing China Saturday, 96-75, to win their final FIBA World Cup game.
Clarkson simply found his rhythm in that pivotal third quarter. In less than four minutes, the NBA star put up 20 points, finishing with 24 markers in that period alone.
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Despite churning out numbers in the earlier games, the former NBA Sixth Man of the Year admitted that he only really caught fire in the final game.
“The basket felt big at that point,” said Clarkson after the game.
“We got a good flow. All [World] Cup, guys have been hounding me, I’ve been aggressive and not able to get free get the shots and rhythm that I’m used to taking. But in that third quarter, my teammates [we’re] just finding me. We started to get good screens and good looks and [we’re] just able [to] knock them down.”
Clarkson began knocking down 3-pointers in the quarter, making four straight as Gilas grew their advantage against the visitors.
Each and every time, the crowd at the Smart Araneta Coliseum roared for the NBA superstar. Clarkson vibed off of the energy of more than 11,000 fans at the Big Dome.
“And the energy from the crowd. When you start hearing that as loud as it was, it’s gonna [be] hard to calm me down at that time and I stayed hot. The crowd was just amazing. The fans were amazing,” he said.
“[There] was just so much energy in there. We just really want a win and gift them that.”
Clarkson thus finishes his first World Cup stint with Gilas with a 1-4 slate.