TNT aims to draw first blood

Games today:

(Ninoy Aquino Stadium)

5 p.m. — TNT vs NLEX

7:30 p.m. — Magnolia vs Rain or Shine

Defending champion TNT Tropang braces for a dogfight as it faces a tough NLEX side in a bid to draw the first blood in their Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup best-of-five quarterfinals opener today at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

Coming into the season, Tropang Giga coach Chot Reyes already knew that retaining the crown would be harder under a different playoffs format.

Compared to the previous conferences where the top two teams after the eliminations earn a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals, this time there are no incentives as pairings in the opening phase of the playoffs will be disputed in a race-to-three wins contest.

“From the start, we knew this was gonna be the format. My job as a coach is to deliver a team that is as ready and as sharp as possible for this stage of the playoffs,” Reyes said.

TNT, which topped Group A with an 8-2 win-loss record, stands on equal footing with the Road Warriors.

And this could pose a big challenge.

“They will give us a lot of problems. NLEX has Berto (Robert Bolick) and a good import (in DeQuan Jones),” said Reyes as he expects nothing less of a slugfest against NLEX in their 5 p.m. encounter.

Reyes hopes his prized import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson has already regained the same explosiveness that brought the Tropang Giga into the crossover quarters as top seed after sitting out in their last elimination round game.

Hollis-Jefferson skipped TNT’s 99-79 rout of NorthPort last Sunday to rest a right ankle injury.

The mentor also wants his players to raise their level of play offensively while maintaining their defensive intensity especially in guarding NLEX’s prolific scorers Bolick and Jones.

“Our offensive efficiency has to pick up for the playoffs while at the same time keeping our defensive intensity. I think that’s very important. Our defense is what has carried us through when our offense has been struggling. So, we have to maintain that and improve on the offense,” Reyes said.

“But one thing is for sure — what got us here won’t get us to the next level. So, we have to now focus on getting to the next level if we want to go deep in the playoffs.”

While the Tropang Giga stormed their way into the playoffs, the Road Warriors had to fight their way into the last quarters bus ride in Group B by winning their last two games including a crucial 103-99 victory over Barangay Ginebra San Miguel last Sunday.

Jones, who replaced Myke Henry, is up to the challenge of scoring an upset and bringing his team deep in the playoffs.

“They’re an explosive team offensively. They have size defensively. We got to kind of neutralize it by distributing the ball and sticking to what we do,” he said.

“They’re gonna play their game and we’re gonna play ours. Just stick to our game plan and let things fall where they will.”

Meanwhile, Group B No. 1 seed Rain or Shine meets Magnolia in the other quarters match set at 7:30 p.m. MARK ESCARLOTE