Willie Miller: You adorable goofball, you!

Miller Time is Thriller Time! 

I was watching the match between the Barangay Ginebra Kings and the Barako Bull Energy.

I was happy that the Gin Kings won. Mike Cortez unleashed five triples while Rob Labagala had a career night.

But in the closing minutes, the star of the match was Willie Miller.

Miller is former Gin known for his offensive explosiveness and at the same time... playfulness. During their one-on-one interview, Mark Caguioa would comment on how he knows The Thriller’s style of play.

Miller in retaliation would comment on how he hates Caguioa’s new hairdo.

Anyway, midway in the fourth quarter, Willy Wilson tried to jokingly pull Miller down. Wilson is sitting in the sidelines and was having a chat with Miller. During the third quarter, Wilson was jokingly slapped in the face by Paul Artadi who is also a former Gin King.

Now with Ginebra leading the game by five points with less than fourteen seconds remaining, the Gins called for a timeout. It was basically a won game for Ginebra with Caguioa, KG Canaleta, and Ronald Tubid also playing well. It was also certain that the first thing Barako Bull will do in the situation was foul the person that receives the ball.

Wilson was the guy that caught the ball and the Energy double-teamed with quickly. The referee was hesitant in calling the foul so Barako Bull took desperate actions to get the referee’s attention.

Luckily, Willie Miller had an idea.

When Wilson dipped his body and grasped the ball so a steal won’t happen, Miller boinked Wilson’s ass.

Yes, Willie Miller made Willy Wilson jump in the air by poking his ass.

And then Miller ran away. Mark Caguioa approached him and quickly slapped his head.

Miller couldn’t control his emotions.

But unlike the rage Yeng Guiao had on Ogie Menor, this was different.

It was very, very different.

This is what guys like Menor will never have. Miller, despite his playfulness being often hazardous to a team he plays in, is well-loved by his peers. Sometimes he’ll go overboard with his shot selections and decisions but in the end, you’ll hang out with him. This is why Miller is probably one of the best characters in the PBA today apart from Caguioa and Tubid. Miller was laughing hard approaching Caguioa and The Spark was laughing as well. The replays show that Miller had every intention to poke Wilson’s ass and it was funny how Wilson unsuccessfully hid his shock.

What sucked for the Kings though was at 88 to 83, Wilson muffed both charities and it somehow opened a shallow opportunity for Barako Bull. That incident erased the laughter and substituted it with serious faces. Miller had a chance to put a scare on the Gins but his shot was off. After the match, Miller is back to his old jolly self. The Ginebra win is enough for the Kings to secure a Best-of-Three quarterfinals spot while Barako Bull is deservingly relegated to face either the Talk N Text Tropang Texters or the B-Meg Llamados.

Willie Miller is old. In a few years his scoring average will dip as low as his minutes.

But he is still a joy to watch.

His antics are enough for me to want him as a PBA analyst in the near future.

I bet he’ll do wonders with Mico Halili, Jason Webb, and Richard Del Rosario tag teaming with him!

Game over.