DEFENDING champion TNT Tropang Giga are knocking on door of back-to-back PBA Governors’ Cup championships.

In fact, the Tropang Giga are only two wins away from doing so.

A convincing 96-84 victory over the Kings last Wednesday enabled the Tropang Giga to move even closer to achieving their goal.

But TNT coach Chot Reyes refuses to sit back and relax, knowing Ginebra’s never-say die spirit and coach Tim Cone’s ability to bring out the best in his players.

“That’s our game. We take what the opportunities are in front of us. If they play us a certain way, then we take the penetration and drive. If they cover that, we make sure that we take the next best open shot,”said Reyes, referring to TNT’s offensive game.

That will be also be on Reyes’ mind when the Tropang Giga look to make it three wins in a row over the Kings in Game 3 of their best-of-seven title showdown at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

TNT import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson said “a shift in the mindset” enabled him to perform well against a strong team like Ginebra.

”In the Asian Games, they forced me to shoot a lot of threes and they beat us for the gold medal. We talked about that and I know that’s going to be the game plan now and they’re willing to live with that the whole game, “said Hollis-Jefferson.

“But I’m a professional player; I work on it (outside shooting) every day. I believe in it, my coaches and teammates believe in it.”

His Ginebra counterpart, Justin Brownlee, is hoping for Ginebra’s patendmted never-say-die sprit in Game 3.

“We know we ve been playing badly and I think we just have to remain confident,” said Brownlee.

“Down 2-0, it’s going to be hard to remain confident, I would say, but we got that NSD spirit and hopefully, with the crowd, everybody can just rely on each other to bring that spirit into Game 3 and turn the series around,” he added.

The scores:

TNT (96) — Hollis-Jefferson 37, Oftana 13, Khobuntin 13, Castro 9, Pogoy 9, Nambatac 6, Erram 4, Williams 3, Aurin 2.
Ginebra (84) — Brownlee 19, Thompson 18, Holt 11, J. Aguilar 11, Abarrientos 7, Ahanmisi 7, Cu 7, Pinto 4.
Quarterscores: 19-23, 49-41, 72-71, 96-84.

Game Friday:

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

The results:

Game 1– TNT 104, Ginebra 88.
Game 2 — TNT 96, Ginebra 84.
(TNT leads series, 2-0)

AUTHOR PROFILE

Robert Andaya