UNLIKE in the fourth game, the long toms did not fall aplenty for either TNT or defending champion Ginebra.
There was no runaway win either– only a hard-earned victory that powered the Tropang Giga to within a triumph of the Promised Land last night.
TNT roared back from a 15-point first half hole and carved out a 104-95 win over the Kings in Game 5 of their best-of-7 finals duel for the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Best import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson wound up with a triple-double of 32 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists for the Tropang Giga, while Calvin Oftana shone anew with 20 markers, eight boards and two dimes.
Also stepping up was Mikey Williams, who finished with 15 points, while Glenn Khobuntin, Jayson Castro, and JP Erram all had 10 as TNT scored a big follow up to a 116-104 thumping of Ginebra in Game 4 four days ago.
More than bucking the series’ pendulum trend by winning two straight, the Tropang Giga could wrap up the race-to-4 title battle in Game 6 tomorrow at the same venue.
A deciding seventh game, if necessary, will be played this Sunday, April 23, also at the Big Dome.
TNT coach Jojo Lastimosa pointed to his troops’ resolve in the second half as the big difference.
“I don’t wanna say it in public, but you know what I mean. We can’t blame our deficit in the first half because of areas we have no control of. I think the message at halftime was they actually (Kings) outplayed us in the first half,” Lastimosa said.
“I said if we wanna get back into this game we needed to have a little bit of more effort than them and I think in the third quarter the guys started defending really well, executing really well, and going back to what we do best,” he added.
The Kings zoomed to a 54-39 spread on Justin Brownlee’s layup at the 3:32 mark of the second quarter before they settled for a 61-49 edge.
But the Tropang Giga launched a furious fightback in the third canto– when Brownlee left the match for good due to food poisoning.
A basket by reigning MVP Scottie Thompson pulled Ginebra to within 95-96 with 3:47 to go but TNT answered with an 8-0 finish to seal the deal.
Christian Standhardinger carried the fight for the Kings with 29 points and 13 caroms, while John Pinto added 18.
Brownlee, Thompson, and Jeremiah Gray also got 14, 12, and 10 markers, respectively for Ginebra.
