Chot, TNT brace for Ginebra rally

Game today:

(Smart Araneta Coliseum)

7:30 p.m. — Ginebra vs TNT

TNT head coach Chot Reyes felt the Tropang Giga caught Barangay Ginebra on a bad shooting night, making it easier for them to claim Game 1 of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup finals.

He knows the next match will be a lot different.

The defending champion will try to maintain its defensive pressure and counter the Kings’ adjustments in Game 2 to remain in control of the best-of-three series today at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

TNT played to its strength in defense to take away Ginebra’s bread-and-butter outside shooting in a 104-88 rout witnessed by mostly Kings crowd of 11,021 Sunday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.

Ginebra had a terrible series opener shooting 2-of-21 from the three-point area and even missed its first 18 attempts throughout three quarters.

“They’re an outside shooting team. They really rely a lot on their three-point shooting and there are days that it’s (shooting) gonna be off,” Reyes said.

“But that’s not going to be every day. That’s why we have to be prepared in the next game because we know (Ginebra) won’t stay cold for long.”

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Rey Nambatac, Jayson Castro and RR Pogoy were on target on offense. And were as sharp on defense conniving with Calvin Oftana, Glenn Khobuntin and JP Erram in making life miserable for Ginebra.

Overall, TNT held the Kings to 39 percent field goal shooting in a hellish 30-of-77 clip.

The Tropang Giga made the tournament’s best outside shooting team throw bricks including a 1-of-5 sniping from the four-point line.

TNT also held its rival’s scoring output way below its 106 points per game average.

For Ginebra coach Tim Cone, Game 1 was an utter embarrassment for the franchise’s series opener in a rematch of last year’s finals edition.

Cone is not disheartened at all.

It’s up to them to make the necessary adjustments and for the players to execute the game plan.

“We have to run around and move on, see what we can do to change our fortunes in Game Two. We’ll see what we can do about it,” Cone said.

But breaking out of the Tropang Giga’s defensive shackles is easier said than done.

“TNT, they’re the best defensive team this conference. And it’s not going to be easy,” Kings resident import Justin Brownlee said.

The naturalized Gilas Pilipinas player had a game-high 23 points in the opener but shot poorly from the field on 8-of-21 clips.

“Coach Tim (Cone) definitely explained that (TNT defense) to us from the past week that we’ve been preparing,” he added.

The backcourt duo of Scottie Thompson and rookie RJ Abarrientos would also have to do a better job contributing on offense after a combined 12 points in Game 1.