Bouncing back

Bol Bol rises head and shoulders above everyone else for two points. —PBA IMAGES

For only the second time in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup, coach Chot Reyes had company in the postgame press conference after a TNT victory on Friday.

But it wasn’t Bol Bol who joined the Tropang 5G mentor after another hard-fought result when the defending champions edged out guest team Macau Black Knights, 119-112, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser had the distinction of getting Best Player of the Game honors after supplementing Bol’s massive production with 17 points and seven rebounds that helped TNT bounce back from its loss to Converge two nights earlier.

“It’s no secret that Brandon’s a big part of our game,” Reyes said after TNT improved to 6-3. “He’s normally our indicator. If he’s playing well, if he has a healthy plus-minus differential, normally or most of the time, our team wins.

No Macau win streak

Ganuelas-Rosser was on the floor for 31 minutes, with his activity more important than the numbers he put up, which enabled TNT to weather a resilient Macau side that was three nights removed from a breakthrough win after seven consecutive defeats.

“And you saw that today, because of all the attention and gravity on Bol and our guards, our shooters like Calvin [Oftana] and Jordan [Heading] and Brandon really get a lot of opportunities,” said Reyes.

“That’s one, but the big value is his ability to defend big guys and also switch on smaller guys,” Reyes went on. “So we always talk about him staying on the court, not getting into foul trouble so that he can play extended minutes.”

Bol finished with 37 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks in another effort that would have warranted Best Player honors in recent games.

The former NBA player, however, had only shown up just once at the press conference room, as the league was said to have penalized Bol for failing to attend the mandatory media session.