NLEX import DeQuan Jones already has his sights on TNT when they clash in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup quarterfinals.
Jones, who scored 44 points in the Road Warriors’ 103-99 overtime win over Barangay Ginebra San Miguel at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last Sunday, said they need to find the main offensive threats of the Tropang Giga and neutralize them once their best-of-five series starts.
NLEX finished the elimination round in fourth place in Group B with a 5-5 win-loss record.
“They (Tropang Giga) have size defensively so we kind of got to neutralize it by distributing the ball and sticking to what we do. They’re going to play their game and we’re going to play ours,” Jones said.
“So just sticking to our game plan and, you know, letting the chips fall where they were.”
TNT will be a tough cookie to crack with import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Calvin Oftana and Poy Erram leading the charge.
But with NLEX coming off back-to-back wins, head coach Jong Uichico believes the squad just needs to be on the same page and be consistent when the playoffs begin.
The last time NLEX made it to the semis was in the 2021 PBA Governors’ Cup where it lost to the Kings in their best-of-five series.
“Yeah, what’s good about this team, especially DJ, is even if we start losing games, we don’t start bickering or blaming each other. We just stuck together as a team and worked the same way as if we didn’t have a losing streak,” Uichico said.
“Let’s try to improve every day.”
Jones also wants to get more shots from outside the three-point and four-point lines.