Eyes on the prize

TNT Tropang Giga and San Miguel Beer downplayed talks of completing or stopping a grand slam.

For the protagonists of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup finals, the best-of-seven series starting Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum is about winning the championship, plain and simple.

The Tropang 5G are tuning out the noise of a historic triple crown for the franchise, 14 years since a botched first attempt also under current head coach Chot Reyes.

On the other hand, the Beermen are more concerned with redeeming lost pride after a disgraceful campaign in the previous conference than with raining on TNT’s parade.

“Believe it or not, I’m not really thinking of the grand slam,” an adamant Reyes said during the championship press conference held Friday at the Chardonnay by Astoria in Pasig City.

Reyes insisted that he and TNT are just looking at one game at a time, however cliché it might sound.

“Even up to now, when I come to coach, I coach what’s in front of me. Even in our team discussions, we really never talk about winning a championship,” he said.

“We talk about being the hardest-working and best-conditioned team. If we do that, then the winning will follow. That’s my approach. I just do my best and take it every game, every conference and before we know it, we’re here. I don’t really think about it.”

For Reyes, banishing the ghost of the 2011 season of falling short of a grand slam against the Anthony Grundy-led Petron (San Miguel’s banner that season) is not really TNT’s source of motivation.

“To answer the question, 2011 is really ancient history for me. It’s not even in my consciousness. This tournament — these finals — it’s going to be nice to win on its own merits, not because of past experiences,” the 11-time champion mentor said.

The Tropang 5G advanced to the finals after a grueling six-game semifinals series triumph over Rain or Shine despite a slew of injuries.

TNT came into the all-Filipino conference without Jayson Castro, who sustained a season-ending knee injury in the Commissioner’s Cup, and lost Rey Nambatac early in the tourney due to a groin injury. The Tropang 5G limped their way into the championship with lead guard RR Pogoy and veteran Kelly Williams sustaining hamstring and ankle issues, respectively.

“The adversity that we went through is really a testament to the fighting spirit of the players. They just refused to give up. There’s no quitting in them although we could’ve called it a day and no one would take anything away from us. We won the last two championships. Even if we had given up, that would be okay. But they kept fighting,” Reyes said.

“Just like what we would always tell the team: ‘As long as you keep fighting then you give yourself a chance’. And now we’re here we’ve given ourselves a chance. We know we’re up against a very strong opponent and with all our injuries as well but we will just do what we’ve been doing the whole conference: keep fighting and try to give ourselves a chance.”

Meanwhile, redemption is the name of the game for the Beermen.

“We’re here not to stop their (grand slam) ambition but we’re here to win games and eventually win the championship,” San Miguel coach Leo Austria said.

The Beermen are back in the finals after a semifinal exit in the Governors’ Cup and an embarrassing eighth-place finish in the mid-season tournament.

San Miguel, behind the tandem of eight-time Most Valuable Player and top Best Player of the Conference contended June Mar Fajardo and CJ Perez, beat Barangay Ginebra in a semifinals series that went the full seven games. The Beermen are also looking to reclaim the Philippine Cup crown they lost to Meralco last year.

“The other team is equally talented. Talk ‘N Text is really strong. They won two championships in the last two conferences and that experience is something they can take advantage of,” Austria said in his first finals since his reappointment as head coach last conference.”

“But we are here to redeem ourselves especially after not making it to the playoffs of the last conference. It’s enough for our players to realize how hard it is to be at the bottom of the standings,” he added.

“Since the start of the conference, we have already realized that we have to work hard and focus on the basic fundamentals of basketball both on offense and defense. To come up really competitive and it paid off. Now we’re on the finals against Talk ‘N Text.”