Oftana, Tropang 5G heave sigh of relief

Accepting that TNT Tropang 5G is playing with a different team from the one that ruled the first two conferences of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 49 is a step in the right direction.

Calvin Oftana took it by heart and uncorked an inspired performance to lift the Tropang 5G out of a three-game slump for their first victory in the Philippine Cup.

The veteran forward delivered his first double-double of the tournament in powering the grand slam-seeking TNT to an 89-84 win over San Miguel Beer on Sunday night at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.

He finished with 23 points and a career-high 21 rebounds while filling the rest of the stats box with six assists, a steal and a block for an all-around outing in 39 minutes of action.

Oftana’s explosion gave TNT the much-needed bounce back after suffering the franchise’s worst start in 25 years.

“Just like what coach (Chot Reyes) told us during our huddle in practice: Just show up. That’s something missing in our past three games,” Oftana said, recalling TNT’s disarray to start the season-ending conference after prevailing over Barangay Ginebra in a grueling seven-game Commissioner’s Cup finals.

Oftana took it upon himself to step up and crash the boards while providing the offensive spark with three-time Best Import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson out of the equation and leader Jayson Castro unavailable for the rest of their campaign due to a knee injury.

“Rondae isn’t here anymore to serve as our shot blocker and rebounder. Having said that, that’s what I wrote on the board when coach asked us about what we could contribute to the team,” he said.

“Coach Josh (Reyes) reminded RR (Pogoy) and me to take care of the boards. The more we could pull down rebounds, the more we would be able to control the game.”

Oftana downplayed his remarkable performance and would rather celebrate getting the monkey off the Tropang 5G’s backs.

“It’s my career high in rebounds but I’m not looking for that. I’m just happy we won this conference and hopefully we can sustain this for the rest of the conference,” the Gilas Pilipinas stalwart said.

The veteran forward delivered his first double-double of the tournament in powering the grand slam-seeking TNT to an 89-84 win over San Miguel Beer on Sunday night at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.

Reyes, on the other hand, commended his team for responding well to his challenge after getting beaten by NLEX, Converge and Phoenix.

“We need to find our bearings as this team. Just like what Calvin said, let’s show up. The team that showed up today is a different team and this is the team that we’re going to war with this conference,” Reyes said in relief.

“We have to make sure that we sustain and improve on the game that we played today. San Miguel’s a hell of a team but as long as you keep on fighting, then you give yourself a chance. I thought we did a great job today just giving ourselves a chance,” he added.

Reyes hopes getting over the hump would turn TNT’s fortunes around.

The Tropang 5G try to spark a winning run on Friday against skidding Terrafirma at the Philsports Arena.

“Certainly, it’s a step in the right direction. But our effort in the next few games will tell if we’ve started to turn that corner,” Reyes said.