Deonte Burton wasted no time making an impression in the PBA. The new NLEX import flirted with a triple-double in his league debut, posting 22 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists in limited minutes as the Road Warriors routed Macau, 138-78, on Wednesday, October 7.

Burton arrived as the replacement for the injured DeQuan Jones. He spearheaded a wire-to-wire attack in the PBA Governors’ Cup’s resumption at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium, where NLEX showed no ill effects from a long break.

Burton Makes Instant Impact for NLEX

Burton credited the work NLEX put in during the break for the dominant showing. “It feels good, it shows the work we’ve been putting in for the break and we just want to keep winning and keep putting in the effort,” said Burton.

Schonny Winston added 25 points to power the Road Warriors’ attack alongside Burton. The win was NLEX’s eighth in 10 games in Group A.

NLEX Rewrites Record Books in Rout of Macau

The 60-point margin erased the 56 netted by Rain or Shine over Blackwater in a Commissioner’s Cup game from the record books. It was also more emphatic than NLEX’s 114-75 win over Macau in their conference opener.

Jimmy Alapag made his debut as NLEX head coach in that July 10 game. The Road Warriors won that meeting by 39 points and this one by 60.

Macau failed to score in the final 5:06 as LJ Gonzales, Xyrus Torres and Rob Herndon fueled a closing 18-0 run that set the final count. The loss was Macau’s third straight and dropped the Giant Pandas to 2-7 in Group A, out of the running for a quarterfinals slot.

Oscar Lopez Jr. had 36 points and 13 rebounds in his PBA debut for Macau. Kobey Lam added 22 points as the Giant Pandas’ only other legitimate threat.

Jenning Leung, Ramon Cao and Damian Chongqui signed with other EASL teams during the break. Head coach Marcus Elliott was also unavailable as he attended to a personal matter.