Brought in to win titles, Heading falls painfully short a third time

Jordan Heading (left) will come into next conference determined. —MARLO CUETO

Jordan Heading was acquired by TNT to help the franchise win PBA championships. But so far in three tries, the gunslinger has yet to do that.

With the Tropang 5G letting go of Mikey Williams in a trade with Converge, Heading has led the squad to the title series every time. But being able to go all the way has been an elusive thing for the left-handed shooter.

“It’s pretty devastating,” Heading told the Inquirer as he watched the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings being showered by confetti, moments after the Tropang 5G lost, 88-76, in Game 7 of the Commissioner’s Cup Finals on Wednesday.

And Heading is hoping that his streak of coming up short ends in the season-ending Governors’ Cup.

“I’ll approach next conference the same way I do it every time. I’ll get back to it, get back on the horse and keep fighting,” he said. “We won’t give up.”

Heading poured 21 points for TNT in the do-or-die match, but the Gin Kings were just too much.

That output is a good number. But it was a case of good not being enough, as RJ Abarrientos hit a triple in the endgame that completely doomed TNT.

“We were confident the whole time until there was only a minute left, when RJ hit that three,” Heading said of the shot that made it 83-76 with 1:59 to play. “That one hurt. I felt like we had some good stops down there until that.”

Still, Heading found some positives despite falling short, and that’s seeing his brothers push their way to compete even with injuries.

“I’m really proud of the fact that Calvin (Oftana) and Brandon (Ganuelas-Rosser) put their efforts to battle through and give us some quality minutes,” he ended.