CALVIN Oftana and Jordan Heading fired blanks on Friday in Game 3 of TNT’s semifinal series against Meralco in the PBA 50th Season Philippine Cup.
Oftana had six points on 1-of-7 shooting from the field, while Heading even had it worse, going scoreless and missing all seven of his attempts.
Ironically, Oftana and Heading were the top two scorers with 26 and 24 points respectively in Game 2, bringing their average points in the semifinal series to 27.0 and 16.5 respectively, which is also 1-2 for the team.
READ: Meralco holds off TNT to finally get on board in PBA PH Cup semis
The woeful numbers of Oftana and Heading were a reflection of the entire offense of TNT, which went 37.9 percent from the field in Game 3.
“We struggled with our shooting. Jordan and Calvin were 1 out of 14 combined,” said TNT coach Chot Reyes. “That’s the way the game goes. That’s the way the bounces fall. On to the next.”
Reyes credited Meralco’s defense for putting the clamps on Oftana and Heading in what was essentially a must-win for the Bolts.
“Meralco came up with a great defensive game plan. Fantastic defense. That’s the way the playoffs go. Like I said in the last game, we have no illusions that it’s going to be easy. It’s hard. It should be hard because it’s the semifinals,” he said.
Other than their offensive game, Reyes said he still felt they were decent on the defensive end.
READ: Injuries no hindrance for Nambatac in highly physical semis clash
“But I thought our defense was not bad. We kept them to the mid-90s. Our offense was the one that was the problem,” said Reyes.
Oftana and Heading will try to regain their form on Sunday when TNT faces Meralco again in Game 4 this time at the Mall of Asia Arena.
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