After his outstanding performance in Game One of the PBA 49th Season Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals on Wednesday, Scottie Thompson appears to be in playoff mode.

With 23 points, seven rebounds, six assists, four steals, and one block in Barangay Ginebra’s 100-92 victory over Meralco in the series opener, Thompson was outstanding all around.

After averaging 10.5 in the eliminations, he has scored the most points this conference. In addition, Thompson averaged 0.5 blocks, 1.58 assists, 6.83 assists, and 5.42 rebounds.

Thompson’s figures indicated that he concentrated on serving as a facilitator throughout the elimination round, recording assists 13, 11, and 10. He went to work offensively on Wednesday, and with his 23 points, he only broke the double-figure scoring threshold five times this conference.

“Basta playoffs lang, as a veteran, kailangan ko lang din maging ready and step up ‘yung mga elimination games and coming to the playoffs,” said Thompson after Game One.

“Overall naman, gusto ko maging aggressive on both ends – offense and defense. Nagkataon din talaga na nasu-shoot ‘yung mga tira ko. Credit din sa mga teammates ko na nahanap ako.

Because of the offensive contributions of his fellow veterans, namely Justin Brownlee and Japeth Aguilar, Thompson is denied much of the credit for the victory in Game One.

Against Meralco, Aguilar finished with 19 points and 9 rebounds, while Brownlee finished with 23 points and 9 rebounds.

On the other hand, Deon Thompson, who fouled out early in the second half of the PBA 49th Season Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals series opening, would like to concentrate on the next game.

Thompson acknowledged that he was confused by a few fouls he committed in Game One, which caused him to leave the game early at the eight-minute mark of the third quarter of Rain or Shine’s 100-92 loss to Converge.

Thompson, 36, hit 6 of 11 from the floor, finished with 14 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists before fouling out after 24 minutes and 46 seconds of play.

However, despite the controversial fouls, Thompson feels that he still needs to improve his defensive play because his absence significantly affected the outcome of Game One.

Yeng Guiao, the coach of Rain or Shine, bemoaned the referees’ call against Thompson, claiming that it wasn’t a playoff foul. In order to look into the game officials, he even called the PBA.

Nevertheless, Thompson is putting Game One behind him and is now concentrating on winning the series and the match at Ninoy Aquino Stadium on Friday.

Thompson praised the Rain or Shine locals’ play for keeping the game within a reasonable range, which allowed Converge to exploit the situation facing the Elasto Painters.

Deon said, “But it’s the best-of-three series and we have another opportunity on Friday,”.

“They (locals) definitely fought to stay close. One thing that we’re gonna have to do and focus on Friday is to take care of the offensive rebounds. They did a great job of grabbing a lot of offensive rebounds even when we got stops,” Thompson mentioned Converge’s 17–9 advantage in offensive rebounds over Rain or Shine.