San Miguel, TNT joust in crucial Game Five
WITH their best-of-seven Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup finals series knotted at two games apiece, the San Miguel Beermen and TNT KaTropa buckle up to work anew in the crucial Game Five today.
Set for 7 p. m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, the Beermen and KaTropa are eyeing the allimportant win that will take them a step closer to bagging the title in the mid-season PBA tournament.
TNT got back in the series after hacking out a gutsy 10297 victory in Game Four last Wednesday behind what they described was better collective effort and end- game poise on their part to reset the finals joust to a best-of-three.
The win was a welcome development for the KaTropa who were seemingly losing their grip on the championship after backto-back losses in Games Two and Three following their victory in the series opener.
Hulking import Joshua Smith made his presence felt for TNT in the series-tying win, finishing with 20 points and 15 rebounds to earn player of the game honors.
Point guard Jayson Castro came off the bench to backstop their reinforcement with 17 points while erstwhile struggling rookie RR Pogoy tallied 14 points after going scoreless in the previous two games.
Forwards Ranidel de Ocampo and Troy Rosario each had 13 markers and RR Garcia chipped in 10, highlighting the multi-pronged attack TNT had in Game Four.
“It was a hard- fought game. Both teams came out and gave their all and we’re just happy to be back on the winning end. Against a team like San Miguel you need a total team effort and tonight our players did that,” said TNT coach Nash Racela following their win.
He was quick to say, however, that the work still remains for them, saying “What we did tonight was just tie the series.”
STILL DOING WELL
While they lost out on the opportunity to take a commanding 3-1 series lead last time around, San Miguel still felt good of its performance overall in Game Four, putting itself in a position to win even when its big men were foulplagued and best player of the conference winner Chris Ross having a subpar game.
“We scored 97 points tonight and actually it’s good enough to win but we allowed 102 points which means our defense could have been better. Our big men got into foul trouble early and we were not able to defend well down low and Smith had his way,” said Beermen coach Leo Austria in the postmatch press conference.
In Game Four, big man June Mar Fajardo was limited to 13 points and nine rebounds in just 26 limited minutes on the floor before fouling out.
Import Charles Rhodes had 22 points and eight rebounds but failed to finish the game out of frustration and was ejected from the game for meriting a second technical foul in the closing moments.
Alex Cabagnot had 18 points but his backcourt mate Ross only had eight points and four assists that stymied the Beermen’s attack partly especially in the payoff period.
“TNT made the adjust - ments and it proved to be successful and it’s now time for us to make ours. We lost tonight but I’m confident we can do better in the next game,” Mr. Austria, said.