CAN WALK, WILL PLAY
TNT clearly has Rain or Shine on the ropes, and the Tropang 5G know that they need to deal the knockout punch on the Elasto Painters as soon as they can to give their Grand Slam dreams the best shot possible.
With three chances to end their best-of-seven series for a place in the Finals of the PBA Philippine Cup, there’s no doubt that TNT would like to take the first one that’s available, at 5 p.m. at Smart Araneta Coliseum on Friday, for doing that would allow the team to mend a lot of aching bodies.
The Tropang 5G will take a 3-1 into Game 5, but they will have several stars playing less than 100 percent, stars like Calvin Oftana, who twisted both his ankles in separate stages of a 108-92 win in the fourth game on Wednesday.
And ending this one as early as possible could allow for some of those bodies to mend and extra rest for everyone else with the other semifinal pitting Barangay Ginebra and sister team San Miguel Beer looking like it will go the full seven-game distance.
“As long as I can walk, I will play,” Oftana told reporters in Filipino after shooting 16 points in Game 4, where coach Chot Reyes got five players in twin digits and a double-double from Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser, who stepped up for Kelly Williams.
RR Pogoy and Rey Nambatac have also been out of commission, and Williams also twisted his right ankle in the second quarter of Game 4.
Ganuela-Rosser scored 22 points and had 11 rebounds in his finest performance in a TNT uniform, while Jordan Heading, a late acquisition from Converge, scattered 23 points to lead all Tropang 5G shooters.
The Gin Kings and the Beermen, meanwhile, break their 2-2 tie in the 7:30 p.m. game, with San Miguel having something going for them as evidenced in their 107-82 Game 4 win also on Wednesday.
June Mar Fajardo started for the first time in the last three games and finished with 12 points and 19 rebounds and 31 minutes, showing that he has recovered well from a calf strain that forced coach Leo Austria to play him sparingly in the previous two games.
The TNT victory on Wednesday was deja vu for both teams, as the Tropang 5G have beaten Rain or Shine in both Game 4s of the Commissioner’s Cup and Governors’ Cup semifinals before being entangled again in this series.
TNT had conquered Rain or Shine via 4-1 scores both times.
No team has completed a Grand Slam since San Mig Coffee pulled it out under Tim Cone in 2014 with a team built around James Yap, and for TNT to have its biggest chance against either Ginebra or San Miguel, it must get all hands on deck for the Finals.
And that is not taking anything away from Rain or Shine, which could still turn things around.
That’s why there’s mounting pressure on the Tropang 5G to get this over and one with.
