It may be a cliché, but defense has been key in the current surge of NorthPort in the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup.

Hinged on their efforts on the defensive end — forcing turnovers and converting them into points — the Batang Pier have built momentum by piling up three wins in a row heading into a long All-Star and Holy Week break.

Batang Pier coach Bonnie Tan consistently emphasizes the importance of his players' effort on defense.

In fact, it is a requirement to get longer playing minutes.

"We challenged our players that whoever plays well in defense will play longer minutes," Tan said after NorthPort shut down Meralco, 90-85, last Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum for a 3-1 win-loss record.

"I guess they were also challenged that for them to get longer playing minutes, they have to play well on defense not only on scoring."

Making stops did wonders for the Batang Pier, who are enjoying their best start in the All-Filipino Conference.

NorthPort in the last three games averaged 31.3 points off turnovers while forcing its opponents to commit an average of 25.6 miscues.

The Batang Pier made a killing out of the Bolts' 25 errors that they converted into 31 turnover points, something that satisfied Tan.

"Slowly we're able to make stops against teams like Meralco who are good on half-court offense," the veteran mentor added.

NorthPort's win run came at the heels of its disappointing 100-107 opening-day loss to NLEX.  

The club only had 16 turnover points in the Road Warriors' 13 turnovers.

"During our first two games, we're 1-1, we lost via overtime in the first game," Tan said.