TNT guns for a 3-0 bulge, while San Miguel tries to grab the lead as the PBA Season 49 Governors’ Cup semifinal series shifts to Dasmariñas City in Cavite on Sunday.
The Tropang Giga took control in another live-wire third-quarter effort to roll past the Rain or Shine (ROS) Elasto Painters, 107-91, en route to a 2-0 series lead last Friday.
The boys of coach Chot Reyes look to sink ROS into a 0-3 hole with another win when both squads tangle at 7:30 p.m. at the Dasmariñas City Arena.
The Beermen, meanwhile, managed to tie the series after outlasting the Barangay Ginebra Kings, 131-125, in overtime to tie the series at 1-1. The two sister teams go at it again at 5 p.m.
SMB coach Jorge Gallent said he was glad to see his boys respond well after opening the series with a 122-105 drubbing at the hands of Ginebra.
“In Game 1, we weren’t in the flow of our offense, that’s why our defense was really bad. We were scrambling a lot,” said Gallent. “But we just stuck to our game plan [in Game 2], stuck to what we do in practice. We didn’t panic, and we went through our flow of offense.”
The Beermen also got a massive boost from veteran guard Terrence Romeo, who fired 13 in the fourth period, highlighted by 3-of-3 shooting from beyond the arc, before adding nine more in the extra period to lead his team to victory.
Romeo, a three-time PBA Scoring champion, finished with 26, going perfect from beyond the arc with 5-of-5, along with three rebounds and three assists.
Still, Gallent stressed the Beermen haven’t accomplished anything except to reduce the series to a best-of-five affair.
“We just tied the series, so it’s just a best-of-five now,” he said. “Ginebra is a tough team, so we just need to work harder, and we just have to have schemes offensively and defensively so that our flow on offense and defense will always be there.”
As for TNT, Chot Reyes hopes his team’s defense will continue to work wonders, something the Tropang Giga was able to do well during the first two games of the series.
And while Rondae Hollis-Jefferson has always been consistent on both ends of the floor, Calvin Oftana and Rey Nambatac have been superb thus far as both locals are doing their fair share on offense and defense.
Still, Rain or Shine won’t go down without a fight.
ROS coach Yeng Guiao said they will have to make key adjustments in the way they play to ensure they’ll be able to take good care of the basketball and get back to their regular flow on offense.
