TNT proved what a true champion is really made of when it preserved its best game of the tournament in pulling the rug from under San Miguel Beer, 89-84, in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Ynares Center in Antipolo on Sunday.
Winless its first three games, TNT played with a much sense of urgency against the winningest franchise in the league and passed the acid test behind a solid, collective effort on the defensive end and an MVP-like performance from Calvin Oftana.
Oftana came away with a 20-20 game, finishing with 23 points and a career-best 21 rebounds as he propelled the Tropang 5G to the win column.
“Ang sabi lang ni Coach (Chot Reyes) sa amin, just show up. Yun ang wala sa amin the past three games,” said Oftana. “Wala na si Rondae (Hollis-Jefferson). Siya yung shot blocker namin tsaka rebounder namin. Having said that, Coach wrote on the board, ‘What can we contribute?’ Si Coach Josh (Reyes) reminded me na mag-contribute kami ni Roger sa rebounding. The more na makaka-rebound kami, the more na we can conbtrol the game.”
True enough, the Tropang 5G did just that as they even outrebounded a Beermen team centered around the most dominant force in the PBA — eight-time Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo
Even with the presence of Fajardo, the Tropang 5G were able to outrebound the Beermen, 50-47, led by the extraordinary effort of Oftana in crashing the boards.
TNT didn’t only collectively outhustled San Miguel in rebounding, but the back-to-back champion was also able to clamp down on the league’s explosive squad, limiting the Beermen to just 37.5% shooting from the field.
But while TNT can now heave a sigh of relief after notching its first win, Magnolia continued to be on Cloud Nine as it booked its fifth straight win after a 127-94 win over Terrafirma.
Offensively, the Hotshots were steady all game long, hitting 51% from the field while also unloading 36 four-quarter points that practically put the Dyip away. Magnolia remains unscathed after five games while dealing Terrafirma its fourth consecutive loss after winning its debut game in this tournament.
“The key is our preparation and we need to have that mindset of not relaxing even at this stage,” said Magnolia coach Chito Victolero. “We’re looking good at this stage, but we will be facing an NLEX team that has won its last three games so we will prepare for a battle against them.”
