MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN: Bad blood boils as TNT, Ginebra start finals showdown

Defending champion TNT Tropang Giga and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel’s Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup finals duel is more than just a rematch of the last edition’s protagonists.

The best-of-seven series erupting on Sunday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo is a showdown featuring exciting subplots and underlying side stories.

For starters, it’s a chess match between the former and current national team coaches with decorated Chot Reyes calling the shots for the Tropang Giga while on the Kings’ side, the winningest PBA tactician in Tim Cone.

It will also serve as a tiebreaker between the opposing mentors’ finals head-to-head after splitting their first six title encounters.

Jojo Lastimosa was TNT’s coach when it dethroned Ginebra in six games last year.

“This is an exciting finals series for us, especially the PBA, and for the fans. Why? No. 1 it’s the coach of the current national team versus the former coach of the national team,” TNT governor Ricky Vargas said during the championship press conference Thursday held at The Atrium in Enderun Colleges in Taguig City.

Both coaches have handled the Gilas Pilipinas program with Cone serving as deputy of Reyes in 2023 FIBA World Cup before the Ginebra mentor took over the reins and steered the country to a gold medal finish in the Hangzhou Asian Games — which coincidentally also featured the imports of both squads.

Kings resident import Justin Brownlee led Gilas Pilipinas to a huge final victory over Jordan bannered by Tropang Giga reinforcement Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.

“It’s the import of Jordan versus the import of the Philippines. Both of them won (PBA) Best Imports. And it’s about the defending champions versus the darling of the crowd,” Vargas added.

Brownlee and Hollis-Jefferson have faced off nine times throughout their careers.

Seven in the last Governors’ Cup and two in the Asian Games with the reigning Best Import Hollis-Jefferson winning six over Brownlee, a three-time Best Import awardee.

“I look forward to every time we match up against each other. We know we’re gonna give our all. We’re gonna work hard and gonna make it exciting and something to look forward to,” Hollis-Jefferson said.

Brownlee shared the same respect about his adversary.

“He’s tough. Thank you for the nice words, RJ, the feeling is mutual. He’s an incredible competitor. A great player throughout his professional career and amateur career he’s been great so I got a lot of praise for him in that regard,” Brownlee said.

“But with the series, we will come in and just try our best.”

TNT, which topped the elimination round, will come into the series with a little more rest and recovery time compared to Ginebra after disposing of Rain or Shine in five games in the semifinals.