It could’ve been the simplest factor to do for TNT to roll over and stop with a decimated lineup dealing with a 1-3 deficit within the PBA Philippine Cup Finals in opposition to San Miguel Beer. However in Sport 5, a possible nearer, on the Good Araneta Coliseum final Wednesday, the Beermen forgot to activate the swap and left the door open for TNT to come back storming again with a rage that matched the rains pelting the metropolis for days.
San Miguel by no means bought to point out the fiery type that led to 3 straight wins after dropping Sport 1. It appeared just like the Beermen thought the title can be handed over on a silver platter. They performed out of character, insisting on isolations in opposition to TNT’s cohesive protection, counting on particular person expertise as an alternative of protecting for one another. The place was San Miguel’s passing? Within the first half, San Miguel had solely 5 assists, a motive for its lowly 23.9 area objective proportion. The Beermen ended up with 11 assists and shot 32.1 % from the ground, each lows within the Finals.
CJ Perez, the league’s main scorer within the elims with a 23.4 clip, was held to a conference-low 5 factors on 1-of-9 area objectives. Perez is deadliest when driving to the basket, utilizing ball screens to clear his runway however with no assist from teammates, the protection can cease him in his tracks going downhill.
June Mar Fajardo, who scored 33 factors in Sport 3, may solely ship 13 in Sport 5, clearly bothered by Kelly Williams’ physicality. He had 9 offensive rebounds, 4 greater than his common within the Finals, however struggled to get off clear photographs, capturing solely 46.2 %, a far cry from his 65.4 % within the collection earlier than Sport 5. JMF may’ve used some frontcourt assist down the stretch however surprisingly, Mo Tautuaa was benched your complete fourth quarter.
Was it a case of overconfidence? Possibly. However for TNT, it was all enterprise whether or not San Miguel was overconfident or not. Survival was on the road and the Tropang 5G wouldn’t hand over the struggle to maintain its Grand Slam hopes alive. TNT did what it does finest, play hard-nosed, rugged protection to carry San Miguel to lower than 80 factors for the primary time within the Finals and second within the convention. Coach Chot Reyes despatched in 9 gamers, all logging at the least 10 minutes, to stretch his rotation as in one other first within the collection, TNT outscored San Miguel within the fourth quarter, 27-25.
Has San Miguel realized its lesson to not take TNT calmly? TNT’s roster has been ravaged by accidents however Reyes is a grasp at discovering methods to capitalize on what the group has, not dwell on what the group lacks. Coach Leo Austria is concentrated to not go up a second probability to shut out as a result of if it goes right down to a Sport 7, momentum will shift dramatically to favor TNT.
