CJ Pérez happy to reunite with his family

After more than a month inside the PBA bubble, TerraFirma Dyip’s sophomore forward CJ Perez reunited with his family on Thursday.

Pérez left the bubble in the morning and in the afternoon he arrived in the native province of his wife Sienna, who was with her young daughters Ciana Tanisha and Teyana Laquisha, in Rizal, Nueva Ecija.

“I miss them a lot,” Pérez said when contacted by Manila Newsletter.

“I was just ahead of them, my teammates will leave Pampanga tomorrow. Very happy, more than a month later, I am with my family, ”said the 2019 PBA Rookie of the Year.

TerraFirma was among the four teams sent off after the knockout round following a disappointing 1-10 record, which tied the team with NorthPort for the bottom of the standings.

NLEX (5-6) and Blackwater (2-9) were the other two teams eliminated in the league’s long conference this season.

TerraFirma started 0-7 before finally clinching a tournament win against Blackwater 110-101. Pérez led the team with 27 points, four rebounds and three assists.

After that victory, the team abandoned their next three assignments: the last was against NLEX 127-101 last Wednesday despite a 27-point, 10-rebound effort from the former 26-year-old No. 1 overall pick from TerraFirma. during 2018. PBA rookie draft.

Despite the team’s struggles, Pérez was a force to be reckoned with, as the once-stalwart of the University of the Philippines Lyceum averaged nearly 25 points per game on the restart with 6.82 rebounds and 4.27 assists.

Perez said that while it was disappointing not to advance to the playoffs, his sophomore campaign is a learning lesson, not just for him, but for the entire team with young players.

“The experience is something great, from the time of preparation. E shortened for a young team like us. But this is not just the conference or the season. There is more to come, so we will recover, ”said Pérez.

“After our game (against NLEX) we joined the team, we talked about coming back next season. We will prepare well for the whole team, ”he said.

Pérez said being inside the bubble is not a bad thing, as he and his teammates enjoyed every moment there at Clark, Pampanga. From games, to practice sessions and even free time, he said it was memorable.

But if there’s one thing he missed from the outside world, besides family, it’s food.

“Not everyone can eat inside the bubble. So I really missed home, ”Pérez said, adding that he already asked his wife Tinolang Manok and Monggo for lunch on Friday.

“But the bubble is really memorable … in a few years we will talk about it and I am happy to have lived it,” added Pérez as the league chose to have a bubble for the resumption of games for the safety of all since COVID- 19 pandemic.

However, the biggest consolation of being eliminated early, Pérez said, is that he is now with his family.

“Everybody really wins… if we make the playoffs, it’s a big problem. But since we left, here I am with my family that I missed so much. There is no defeat in such a situation, ”Pérez said.