TNT has no time to dwell on the whipping it received at the hands of defending champion San Miguel Beer that evened the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Philippine Cup finals series to one game apiece.
Bringing in the lesson they learned from a 92-111 rout in Game 2, the Tropang 5G look to regain the lead in the best-of-seven series today in Game 3 at the Mall of Asia Arena.
“Right now, it’s next game mentality for us. We learned a lesson from this game,” TNT forward Kevin Ferrer said of the team’s tough loss.
Ferrer came off the bench and anchored the Tropang 5G’s late fourth quarter run, highlighted by his back-to-back four-pointers, that brought down their 24-point deficit to only 10 with two minutes remaining.
But the rally came a little too late for TNT.
“They got ahead of us early in the first half. We tried to to catch up in the third quarter. But you know SMB. You can’t catch up to them that easily. But we tried our best,” Ferrer said.
Despite the loss, the Tropang 5G found a reliable reliever in Ferrer, who scored 11 points, three rebounds and an assist in just 12 minutes of action.
A welcome bright spot in a bleak Game 2 showing that TNT head coach Chot Reyes can take advantage of to score a crucial rebound victory.
“For me, I’m always ready once coach calls my number. I’m always ready. I always give my 100 percent. I told my teammates that I’m always behind them,” Ferrer said.
The Tropang 5G have already put behind the horror of Game 2 and are now ready to redeem themselves.