Starting all over again
Game tonight (Smart Araneta Coliseum) 7 p.m. – TNT KaTropa vs San Miguel Beer Best-of-seven series tied, 1-1 Game 1: TNT 109, SMB 96 Game 2: SMB 127, TNT 125 (2OT)
On equal footing, titans TNT KaTropa and San Miguel Beermen start all over again and dispute the head start in their electrifying PBA Commissioner’s Cup titular showdown that’s now been reduced to a raceto-three affair. Dealt a 96-109 beating in the opener, the Beermen struck back and pulled off a series-tying 127-125 squeaker in double overtime Wednesday, pouncing on the ejection of Terrence Jones in the dying seconds of the first OT and the fouling out of the red-hot Troy Rosario in the second to prevail in the marathon Game 2. “We can’t do anything about that loss but move on, prepare for the next game. They just tied the series and now it’s anybody’s ball game,” said TNT coach Bong Ravena.
SMB mentor Leo Austria hopes to sustain the momentum from their gutsy stand in the second match, where his charges persevered despite facing a 101-105 deficit in the last 54 seconds of the fourth and a 111-114 disadvantage in the final 1:17 of the first overtime.
“We refused to lose, knowing the importance of Game 2. We didn’t want to fall 0-2 as it’s hard to recover from such deficit. Although we did it in the past, it would be extremely difficult against TNT, a very organized and very technical team,” said Austria.
“I hope we can sustain all the things we did good while addressing our shotcomings and not allow TNT to score too many points off turnovers and second chance points. If we can do that, I think we’ll have a chance to win another game,” he added.
Jones took the exit with 21 seconds left in the first extra time with his second technical foul for second motion against Chris Ross and finished with 28 points, 13 rebounds, seven, five steals and three blocks. Rosario’s career game of 34 points spiked by eight triples went for naught as he got his sixth foul with 1:15 left in OT 2.
The calls that forced Jones and Rosario out seemed questionable to some but the KaTropa won’t dwell on that and instead focus their energy on tonight’s pivotal Game 3 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“I’d rather focus on the stuff we can control and what we can control is coming out and having a good game on Friday,” said consultant Mark Dickel, ruing their four missed free throws that could have wrapped up the game.
“Ultimately, we still controlled our destiny; if we made those free throws, we could’ve won. And San Miguel played a good game so the last thing I want to do is take away from the fact that they deserved to win the game, they played hard, they played well so we got to come out on Friday and do the same,” added Dickel.