GINEBRA and TNT struck first against their seemingly winded foes at the start of the mid-season tourney’s Last Four battles last Wednesday night.
The task at hand for the Kings and Tropang Giga remains the same—race to a more comfortable series lead when they take on the NorthPort Batang Pier and Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, respectively, today in the semifinals of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig.
But expect the losing sides to show up better like NorthPort, according to Ginebra coach Tim Cone.
“It’s only one game. We’ll see how this thing evolves over seven games,” Cone said before his charges face the Batang Pier in Game 2 at 5 o’clock. “We didn’t win anything here. We won big and we just had a really good shooting night. They had an off night and those things have a tendency to turn around.
“I mean, they’re a team that’s played well all conference and they had two weeks off also, so it can be hard to stay sharp over the two weeks. But they’ll get their game together and they’re going to come back. They’re not the one seed by chance,” he added.
TNT crosses paths with Rain or Shine in the nightcap at 7:30 p.m.
Despite the wear and tear of carrying the country’s colors in the third window of the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers last week, Cone and some of his stalwarts in Justin Brownlee, former MVP Scottie Thompson, Jamie Malonzo, and Japeth Aguilar still proved too much for NorthPort 115-93 in the opening match of their semis duel.
The four Kings will be counted upon anew by Cone along with prized rookie RJ Abarrientos, Troy Rosario, and Stephen Holt.
NorthPort will pin its hopes on Best Player of the Conference candidate Arvin Tolentino, reinforcement Kadeem Jack, Joshua Munzon, William Navarro, Fran Yu, and Evan Nelle.
“It’s going to be a grind the whole way through. We have no illusions that this would be easy, by any means,” Tropang Giga strategist Chot Reyes said. “They’re a very well-balanced, well-constructed, well-coached team.
“They’re very versatile, they have a great import with them so we really have to be at our best.”
TNT held its ground and hammered a gutsy 88-84 victory over Rain or Shine in the first tiff.
The likes of two-time best import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Jayson Castro, Calvin Oftana, Roger Pogoy, JP Erram, Rey Nambatac, and Kelly Williams are expected to banner the Tropang Giga.
With only import Deon Thompson (29) and Adrian Nocum (18) having good offensive outings, fiery Painters’ tactician Yeng Guiao must get more firepower from the likes of Leonard Santillan, Andrei Caracut, Jhonard Clarito, Caelan Tiongson, and Keith Datu.
Ditto with the Batang Pier locals—Jack and Tolentino need help.
Or else both series will quickly turn out to be a walk in the park.
