TNT Tropang Giga may be on the cusp of barging into the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup playoffs but head coach Chot Reyes is still looking for consistency in his wards.
“We’re still a work in progress. We’re very far I think from the elite teams in the league,” Reyes said as the Tropang Giga inched closer to securing a ticket to the quarterfinals with two more games left in their elimination round assignments.
Reyes said his wards have yet to show a good quality game from start to finish.
“We talked about it as a team, we haven’t played a complete game yet,” the former national team mentor said.
TNT had to climb out of a 23-point hole in the second quarter before pulling off an amazing comeback to beat Phoenix, 108-101, last Wednesday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium for a 5-4 win-loss record.
It was an ugly win that showed what the Tropang Giga have been lacking in their rather shaky all-Filipino conference campaign.
“In Ginebra, we played a terrible first half but had a great second half. If we play quality teams like that it’s hard to win games, right? (The) same thing (against Phoenix), terrible first half, great second half,” Reyes said.
“So, we have to continue working and fixing, finding solutions to be able to play full 48 minutes. Even before thinking about our next two games, that’s our bigger priority. How can we put together full-quality 48 minutes?”
Although he commended his players for not giving up despite a huge deficit, Reyes reiterated that they need to get their acts together to achieve their immediate goal of claiming a playoffs seat.
“I think our ability to win these close games is going to matter later on if we can get there. The problem is can we get there? Unless we’re able to string together a 48-minute game we’re not going to be able to get into a position where we will be in a must-win situation for a semis berth or a finals berth where it really matters the most,” Reyes said.
“That’s why I said for us even before thinking about those games we have to figure out what we need to do first to get to those full 48-minute games. I think it’s going to help us down the line if we can get there. The most important thing for us is to get there, that’s what we want to focus on. We have to get there first.”