Game today:
(Ynares Center-Antipolo)
7:30 p.m. — TNT vs San Miguel
It’s down to a race to two in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Philippine Cup finals.
TNT will try to take advantage of its renewed spark following a masterclass the last time out as it faces defending champion San Miguel Beer in a decisive tie-breaking Game 5 today at the Ynares Center-Antipolo.
The Tropang 5G aim to score their first back-to-back win in the best-of-seven series and inch closer to claiming the all-Filipino conference title in the scheduled 7:30 p.m. tussle.
Banking on a strong first half, TNT blew out the Beermen, 110-87, to even the series last Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Struggling in form in the first three games in the finals, Calvin Oftana came up with 29 points to lead the Tropang 5G’s offense.
TNT took the dominant win, in which it led by as many as 35 points, on the same night San Miguel center June Mar Fajardo claimed his 13th Best Player of the Conference crown.
However, the Tropang 5G paid a steep price after top guard RR Pogoy reinjured his problematic hamstring in the second quarter, making his availability next game doubtful once again.
He already missed the title series’ first two games due to the same injury he sustained in the semifinals against Meralco.
“It’s the next man up. Whoever is available must take charge,” Oftana said.
“We just need to double our efforts if Roger is out once again. We have the personnel to fill in for his spot. We have to stick to the plan. And we’re just happy to have been given the chance to turn it into a best-of-three.”
TNT head coach Chot Reyes believes getting off to a good start and sustaining it the rest of the way is critical to beat San Miguel.
“That’s the way to beat a team like this — to play good basketball for 48 minutes,” Reyes said.
Rekindling the fire that got them through Games 2 and 3 will be crucial for the Beermen to bounce back following a dismal takedown two nights ago.
CJ Perez, whose heroics late in Game 3 momentarily gave San Miguel the series lead, is hoping for a rebound after being pummeled in the last game.
“It was hard to come back from that kind of margin, especially against Talk ‘N Text. So, we just move on to the next game,” said Perez, who only had 11 points on a terrible 4-of-15 field goal shooting.
“Hopefully, we get the win this time. It’s never easy playing TNT in this kind of series,” Perez added.
The Beermen will have to play better defense after allowing the Tropang 5G to shoot 50 percent from the field the last time out.
It’s also important for San Miguel to take care of the ball after committing 21 errors that TNT converted to 29 turnover points.