THE HARDEST GAME
TNT veteran Kelly Williams isn’t a stranger to closeout games by any means.
He’s been there, done that. And yet he knew one thing for certain: closing out a team, even when owning a cushion of sorts in a best-of-seven series, is probably one of the hardest tasks to do.
“I think we always say that closeout games are the hardest, and with a team as good as Meralco, they’ll come out with their best punch,” Williams told the Inquirer on Sunday night at Mall of Asia Arena. “That’s what we’re expecting in the next game. We’re not looking any further than that.”
The Tropang 5G have all the reasons to breathe a bit more relaxed following Game 4 of the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals.
For one, they snagged a pivotal 3-1 lead over the Bolts to move within a win of returning to the PBA Finals.
Additionally, they witnessed the resurgence of Poy Erram as he rallied TNT to a 102-83 rout of Meralco in Game 4, contributing 27 points, nine rebounds, three blocks and two assists. That was huge for TNT, considering Erram has not been getting minutes of late.
“We were playing well with the rotation of our bigs, Brandon, Kelly and Henry. But I always tell Poy, stay ready,” Tropang 5G coach Chot Reyes said.
“Whether he plays a few minutes or no minutes at all, he always stays ready.”
Despite the lead, Williams was in no celebratory mood. Not even if the Bolts, who will try to stave off elimination without the services of Chris Newsome, who sprained his MCL.
“Their coaching staff is great at making adjustments [and] they have really smart players who work hard.”
Same sentiments
“We don’t expect anything less, so we have to make sure to do what we have to do to mitigate all that and do what we’ve been trying to do.”
Williams wasn’t the only veteran who was wary of closeout games.
Cliff Hodge, one of Meralco’s main veterans, also shares the same sentiments as his TNT counterpart.
Hodge, however, hopes that the pressure facing the team with the lead will be something his teammates can pounce on.
“I’m hoping we get this to a Game 7, that’s the plan,” the bruiser said. “Of course, the closeout games are the hardest, so I just want my team to come out, fight and live to see another day. It’ll be an all-out war in the next game, for sure.”
Hodge did what he could for the Bolts in hopes of tying the series at 2-2, dropping 17 points and eight rebounds.
Without Newsome, the guard tandem of Chris Banchero and CJ Cansino registered 19 and 17 points, in a futile effort to save the Bolts.
Despite trailing in the series and losing a valuable teammate to injury, Hodge is confident that Meralco has what it takes to pull off a reversal.
“For me personally, I see it as they (Tropang 5G) have to beat us four times. I’m very confident that we can get it done if we take it one game at a time,” he said.
“We’ll try to push them to Game 6, then [to Game] 7 and see where we can go from there. But I have full confidence with my guys,” he added as both teams prepare to clash on Wednesday at Araneta Coliseum in the first game of the semifinals double-header.
In the second game, Barangay Ginebra and San Miguel Beer battle to break their 2-2 semifinal deadlock.
