DEFENDING champion TNT Tropang Giga are one win away from winning back-to-back PBA Governors’ Cup title.

And import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson hopes to get the job done and clinch the championship in Friday’s Game 6 — or risk giving the never-say-die Barangay Ginebra a new lease on life at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

And like in Game 4 where he outduelled three-time Best Import winner Justin Brownlee, Hollis-Jefferson looks to duplicate his 16-point, 10-rebound effort that helped TNT regain control of the best-of-seven duel before a crowd of 12,727.

Hollis-Jefferson also hopes to get ample support from his local teammates — from RR Pogoy to Calvin Oftana to Kelly Williams to Jayson Castro.

Pogoy finished with 16 points, followed by Oftana with 15 points, Williams with 11 points and Castro with 10.

“I think the most important thing, for us not to panic and keep our heads around us so that we could make good decisions. I think that’s number one,” said TNT coach Chot Reyes after watching the Tropang Giga recover from back-to-back losses in Games 3 and 4.

“Number two was just our focus on our strength which has been our strength the whole tournament long and that was our defense. And I said let’s go back to what got us here, and that’s playing great defense,” added Reyes, who is hoping to lead TNT as the sixth team with a double-digit haul of PBA championships after San Miguel Beer (29), Barangay Ginebra (15), Alaska Milk (14), Purefoods/Magnolia (14) and Crispa (13).

But Ginebra coach Coach Tim Cone is not about to give up.

“Our backs are to the wall and we have to come out with a little bit of desperation in Game Six,”said Cone.

“No one feels about losing a game (Game Five) like this than me. But we just got to move on, get ready for Game Six and see what we can do.”

The 27-point setback was the worst for the Kings in a finals since going down against the San Miguel Beermen, 132-94, in Game 3 of the 2018 Commissioner’s Cup.

Part of Cone’s worries is Brownlee’s struggles.

Brownlee was held to only eight points on a dismal 3-of-13 shooting.

Brownlee missed all three of his threes and two from four-point distance before he was pulled out early in the fourth quarter.

The Gilas Pilipinas mainstay finished with single digits for the first time in his career, surpassing his previous career-low of 10 in Game 4 of the 2016 Governors’ Cup finals against Meralco.

Scottie Thompson, LA Tenorio and Stephen Holt paced the losing effort for the Gin Kings.

The scores:

TNT (99) — Hollis-Jefferson 16, Pogoy 16, Oftana 15, Williams 11, Castro 10, Nambatac 7, Erram 7, Exciminiano 6, Khobuntin 4, Heruela 3, Aurin 2, Galinato 2, Payawal 0, Ebona 0, Varilla 0.
Ginebra (72) — Thompson 13, Tenorio 13, Holt 10, Brownlee 8, Abarrientos 7, J.Aguilar 6, Cu 5, R. Aguilar 5, Pessumal 4, Ahanmisi 1, Pinto 0, Adamos 0.
Quarterscores: 26-20, 56-33, 79-48, 99-72.

Game Friday:

(Smart Araneta Coliseum)
7:30 p.m.– Ginebra vs. TNT

The results:

Game 1: TNT 104, Ginebra 88
Game 2: TNT 96, Ginebra 84
Game 3: Ginebra 85, TNT 73
Game 4: Ginebra 106, TNT 92
Game 5: TNT 99, Ginebra 72
(TNT leads series, 3-2).

AUTHOR PROFILE

Robert Andaya