THE inevitable talks of possibly completing a rare treble are farthest from the minds of TNT coach Chot Reyes and his charges.
Even after disposing of hard-fighting Rain or Shine in Game 6 of their best-of-7 semifinals battle in the PBA Philippine Cup, Reyes maintained that their focus was only on that series clincher.
“That’s really all I had in mind, just discipline my thinking by not looking forward,” Reyes said last Sunday night. “Believe it or not, I’m not really thinking about it. I’m just too focused on this game in front of us.
“Honestly, all I wanted coming to Game 6 was to prepare the players so that we were in the game entering the last quarter. Just discipline myself to focus on what’s in front of us,” he added.
Ginebra and San Miguel Beer duked it out in the seventh game of their own race-to-4 duel at press time last night with the winner advancing to the Big Dance opposite the Tropang 5G who have ruled the first two conferences of the pro league’s 49th season to move four wins shy of emerging with the grand slam triumph—the first time to do so after San Mig Coffee did the trick in 2014.
But Reyes is not thinking way ahead of the best-of-7 finals, admitting either the Kings or the Beermen will surely be a handful.
“We’ll give these guys a couple of days off to go out and be themselves, keep their minds off basketball. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing, they’re both formidable opponents,” Reyes said.
“We just need to take care of the things that are within our control, that’s our preparation and our planning.”
Game 1 of the titular showdown is set for Sunday, July 13, at a venue still to be announced by Asia’s first play-for-pay league.
The flagship squad of the MVP Group hurdled Ginebra twice in the Governors’ and Commissioner’s Cups, both times with prolific import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.
Add to that TNT is making do with an injury-ravaged roster in this season-ending tourney—no more veteran star playmaker Jayson Castro and Rey Nambatac the rest of the way, while Roger Pogoy and Kelly Williams were sidelined in the Last Four.
If and when they get the job done, it will certainly be the only time that Reyes will perhaps address the biggest elephant in the room.
“Now that we’re here, I just have to continue that same discipline and just focus on Game 1,” he said. “So forgive me for not answering the question (grand slam hopes), but we just need to get Game 1 now. Kailangan iyong team namin walang iisipin kundi iyon.”
One only celebrates when all the dust has settled.
