BLOODBATH AT NINOY: Rondae sizzles as TNT dominates Macau by 55

Games today:

(Ninoy Aquino Stadium)

5:15 p.m. — Terrafirma vs San Miguel Beer

7:30 p.m. — NLEX vs Titan Ultra

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson delivered for TNT as if he never left.

Back in the Tropang 5G jersey after over a year, Hollis-Jefferson debuted with a bang as the defending champions blasted skidding Macau by 55 points, 142-87, for their third straight win in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Governors’ Cup on Tuesday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

The three-time Best Import finished with 22 points on 10-of-22 field goal shooting, grabbed six rebounds, dished outs five assists with two steals in over 22 minutes of action for TNT, which became the latest team to crush Macau by a massive margin since NLEX posted a historic 60-point win, 138-78, on 7 October at the same venue.

Hollis-Jefferson played his first game for the Tropang 5G since leading the team to the 2024-2025 Commissioner’s Cup title back on 28 March 2025. He sustained a ruptured right Achilles tendon while playing as an import for Meralco in the East Asia Super League last December.

Hollis-Jefferson replaced Nick Hornsby, who played just two games, just in time for TNT’s playoff campaign.

“Ever since, our plan for the playoffs, is to have Rondae. We found an opportunity to ease him in slowly. Instead of playing teams him two games prior, he had to head back home because of the death of her grandmother. So, his return was delayed for a week,” Tropang 5G head coach Chot Reyes said.

“We were very fortunate to have a replacement like Nick Hornsby to give us those two wins and allowed us now to play Rondae, in an admittedly low-risk game for us.”

TNT improved to a 7-4 win-loss record and boosted its chances of landing a favorable seeding in the crossover quarterfinals with just one more assignment left in their Group A campaign.

The Tropang 5G dropped 78 points in the second half after scoring 64 after the first two periods.

TNT never trailed in the match and built its biggest gap at 61 after Rey Nambatac nailed a three-pointer for a 132-71 count with 4:35 left in the game.

Calvin Oftana paced the Tropang 5G with 28 points, big man JP Erram contributed 15 points and eight rebounds while Jio Jalalon had a triple-double of 11 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists.

“We just wanted to play our game going into the playoffs. We’re excited for Rondae’s return and we’re also grateful to Nick (Hornsby) for giving us two great games. Today, everyone contributed, especially Jio Jalalon. We just want to play the game with high intensity so that we’ll do the same in our next game,” Oftana said.

“Rondae is a trusted import. He’s given us multiple championships. His return both excites us and challenges us to do our work alongside him,” Oftana added.

Macau kept it decent, at least in the first 12 minutes of the match, trailing TNT by only seven points, 28-21, heading into the second quarter.

But TNT started rolling in the second quarter and never lifted its foot off the gas pedal.

The Tropang 5G will try to bring down quarters-bound Converge on Sunday.

“Our next game is Converge. We don’t want to play Rondae and Poy (Erram) immediately against that kind of a strong opponent. That’s why we decided to ease them in today to prepare us for us last game, which is Converge, but again more importantly for the playoff — the quarterfinals,” Reyes said.

The Giant Pandas suffered a fifth straight defeat for a 2-9 card.

Oscar Lopez Jr. had 43 points and 10 rebounds while Chon Pong Lao got 14 markers for Macau, whose bench only produced 13 points compared to 67 of its TNT counterpart.

Macau was also outrebounded by the Tropang 5G, 82-35, and only scored four second chance points against 37 of TNT.