Magnolia's Paul Lee savors chance to win first All-Filipino title in 10-year PBA career

Paul Lee will be motivated by the opportunity to win his first-ever All-Filipino title as his Magnolia Hotshots Pambansang Manok battle the TNT Tropang Giga in the 2021 PBA Philippine Cup Finals.

"This is going to be special because it's another chance to win my first-ever All-Filipino [title]," Lee said on Tuesday during the PBA Finals virtual press conference.

"In my 10 years in the PBA, until now, I have yet to win All-Filipino."

The 32-year-old guard has been playing in the league since 2011 and in his career, Lee has been able to bag three titles: the 2012 Governors' Cup, 2016 Commissioner's Cup, and the 2018 Governors' Cup.

He won the first two titles with the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters while he helped Magnolia capped the season-ending conference in 2018.

The only one missing in his collection, though, is the All-Filipino conference, which he now has a chance to capture as Magnolia faces TNT starting on Wednesday, October 20.

Magnolia had two chances to win the All-Filipino when they trooped to the finals in 2017 and 2019, but both times they fell to sister team, San Miguel.

Winning the title will be special not only for Lee as teammates Ian Sangalang and Calvin Abueva expressed eagerness to cap the conference with a title, especially given the sacrifices they had to take prior and during the season.

"We had a lot of sacrifices and just being in the finals means that it all paid off," said Abueva, who currently leads the Best Player of the Conference race.

"This is special because we are away from our families and we learned a lot from this bubble, it's like we're in a team building. This conference is very special but it will become sweeter if ever we get the title," added Sangalang.

—JMB, GMA News