THAT LOSING FEEL
RODRIGUEZ, Rizal—Coach Chot Reyes couldn’t paint a positive thing about the way TNT was able to gut it out and secure an overtime victory over a lowly Terrafirma side on Friday.
“The scoreboard shows that we won, but we really lost this game in my mind,” Reyes said after the Tropang 5G’s 109-95 victory at the Ynares Center II here, as they needed to shake off a pitiful first three quarters and overhaul a 16-point deficit to prevent a Dyip upset.
Reyes’ frustration was visible throughout the contest, particularly when he opted to let the players talk during a timeout huddle or immediately pointed at someone on the bench whenever a guy on the floor made a mistake.
“Terrafirma completely outplayed us. We had no energy, we had no urgency,” added Reyes despite improving to 5-1 for a share of the lead with Rain or Shine at press time.
But to his satisfaction, two of his players stepped up when needed, particularly an old reliable in Kelly Williams.
Williams connected on eight three-pointers, making the 43-year-old the oldest to hit that many in a game, with the bulk coming late in the fourth quarter and overtime that sealed the Tropang 5G rally.
He finished with 28 points on top of 11 rebounds in almost 39 minutes, prompting Reyes to declare: “Kelly bailed us out.”
“Coach has been giving me opportunities to do what I do. And he’s been trusting me,” said Williams.
An inspired Jio Jalalon was also instrumental for TNT, with his peskiness on both ends resulting in seven points, 12 rebounds, eight assists and two steals—which made him the 36th player in PBA history to reach 500 career steals.
Still, there’s plenty to be desired as far as Reyes is concerned, given that it was the second straight game that TNT came back from a huge deficit and needed overtime to get a victory.
Next up for the Tropang 5G are the Magnolia Hotshots, who will look to tie the Tropang 5G and the Elasto Painters in the standings in their game against the San Miguel Beermen in the nightcap.
The two squads face off on Sunday, and Reyes said there’s no excuse for his wards to have another lackadaisical start, especially against a team known for its precise defending.
“We’re going to take a good, hard look at ourselves as to why we came out with such a flat start,” Reyes said. “We know if that happens to Magnolia and we go down, and we know that they play superior defense than Terrafirma does.
“And that’s going to be a big problem.”
Terrafirma fell to 1-5, tied at the bottom with Phoenix, despite 26 points from Jerrick Ahanmisi.
Meanwhile, Rain or Shine tries to wrest back sole possession of first on Saturday when it faces NLEx at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
Converge tries to bounce back from losing to San Miguel by facing Blackwater in the 5:15 p.m. opener.
