MANILA, Philippines—If there was anyone on the TNT side who watched intently while San Miguel Beer raised the PBA Philippine Cup trophy, it was Simon Enciso.

“This is just motivation,” Enciso told the Inquirer while confetti rained down on the Beermen, who defeated the Tropang 5G, 107-96, at Philsports Arena on Friday. “Obviously, I’m not on that team anymore but I wanted it just as bad, maybe even more.”

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“It’s not a good feeling because you want to be on the winning side but all you can do is go back to the drawing board and work even harder.”

Enciso, formerly a San Miguel key cog, was helpless as we watched his former brothers trounce his new ones while he was on the sidelines.

The two-time PBA champion was ruled out of the series after suffering an orbital bone fracture in Game 3 of the series.

Since that game, when he exited early after scoring just three points, Enciso hasn’t been able to see, literally, action on the hardwood.

The inadvertent elbow landed by Marcio Lassiter didn’t just put a dent on Enciso’s orbital bone but also on his vision.

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“That’s the problem right now, I just keep on seeing double. Every time I look up at the rim to shoot, it’s hard to do so.”

In his absence, guards Jordan Heading, Almond Vosotros and Brian Heruela stepped up to the plate but to no avail as the Beermen proved to be just too futile for TNT.

Unfortunately for Enciso, the series ended in six games; a bit too early before his recover that might’ve come at the perfect time if the Tropang 5G had forced a do-or-die Game 7.

Now, Enciso and the whole TNT squad will press a hard reset before they could even return to the PBA’s grandest stage.

Should they return to the Finals anytime soon, though, the shifty guard wants to see his old team one more time.

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“We’re all competitors here. As you go into a series with a good team [like that]. That’s all you see; blood.”

“It’s survival of the fittest and I’d love to see this team again. I won’t back down from a challenge, I’m not scared because I want to be the best and beat the best. Right now, they’re the best so that’s the target.”

Even if Enciso’s vision was quite literally impaired after Game 3 of the series, his sights remained crystal clear: win a championship.

“Once this [vision] clears up, literally, I’ll be back to work on my game.”

“Nothing changes for me. The only thing that changed is I’ll have added motivation for the next conference because obviously, we’ll see these guys again.”

In his first conference back in the TNT camp where he used to play back in 2020, the Filipino-American guard tallied averages of 7.5 points, 2.5 assists and 2.14 rebounds across 22 games for the Tropang 5G.