‘So, this is how the press room looks like!’

Noel A. Albano / The Spectator

One would expect the strapping Anthony Davis, the New Orleans’ Pelicans sophomore center who plays with the poise of a veteran, to be closer to the basket. Dunking an alley-oop, maybe, which was temptingly spectacular but risky. But with just over one second left, they didn’t have the luxury of time.

Instead, he received an inbound pass as he whirled into view on top of the keyhole, beyond the three-point orbit. Then with an onrushing Oklahoma City hotshot Kevin Durant, with outstretched arms, distracting him on his shooting side, and another Thunder rushing in on his left, he launched a jump-shot. Awkwardly, his legs twisted underneath, powerfully thrusting him upward and propelling a high-arching shot that towered everything else that was thrown all evening. A shot that cleared the remnants of lusty cheers in the Thunder’s arena still agog from Russell Westbrook’s three charities off a foul with 1.2 seconds left that tied the game.

Towering was the word. Davis ended the thriller just like that, casually heroic, with a shot on target. A player who did not equivocate when crisis crept in, he did his job without breast-beating. The mandatory replay was needless. He put to waste Westbrook’s career, individual night with and eye-popping 48 points.

Back Friday night, a shootout was in the offing at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, just after the Father of the Nation spoke on national television about the untamed, barbaric fires poured upon a trapped blocking force of elite police commandos deep inside MILF stronghold.

Paul Lee of Rain or Shine and Terrence Romeo of Globalport Batang Pier were trading fires, trying to outdo each other in a duel that was evidently fair. Romeo seemed to have Lee’s number. The fire-breathing dragon of three-point shots fired fourteen points in the fourth quarter. In response Lee nailed a three-pointer and reeled off six free throws in a fiery end game and somehow had the final say.

Yeng Guiao, brilliant when not temperamental, was right to the point describing the outcome. “That’s one-upmanship between two excellent guards…None of those guys are going to back down. ”

It isn’t a rare spectacle. The league is veritable playground of three-point artists who never cease to amaze us. It would be rare if the matchup could acquire a life of its own. That would be, as Guiao says, a  “treat for the fans for as long as it doesn’t get nasty.”

Surprisingly the PBA Commissioner’s Cup is turning out to be a real gallery treat as well. If the Ginebra Gin Kings don’t watch out, it might lose the aura as crowd favorite to the Pacquiao-led Kia Carnival. Momentarily banish the thought of a Pacquiao-Mayweather bout taking shape soon; watch intently instead if the Carnival’s locals sans Pacquiao could play as well as they did, on a sustained clip, when they felled All-Filipino champion San Miguel with their behemoth, PJ Ramos out on six fouls with more than four minutes left in the game.

“The grandest win in their young PBA existence,” it was called. From being no better than a butt of jokes, they were man enough to get back on the road to winning respect. The new Kia assistant coach, Chito Victolero, was ushered in for an interview, into a new dimension of reality. He was stunningly honest. “So, this is how the press room looks like!” he exclaimed.

He did not claim any glory more than one victory deserved. In the realm of the leviathans, he remained a minnow, and he knew his place. In fact he was deferential. “Maybe they were just off today,” he said of the Beermen, forgetting how well LA Revilla, his point guard, shot free throws and kept Kia’s offense going in the fourth period.

How such ordinary heroism still fills our mornings and replenishes the drained adrenalin of the previous evening, comes as a refreshing jolt, especially when lying politicians and, by extension, some lying generals terribly let us down.

At least, it makes our dark, bitter coffee fuller.