ANTIPOLO – Without three of his starters, TNT coach Chot Reyes is bracing for a tough road ahead in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup which the Tropang Giga started with back-to-back losses on Sunday.
The Tropang Giga missed old hands Jayson Castro and Kelly Williams, along with suspended center Poy Erram in the game against NorthPort, leaving Reyes to make do with a 10-man local lineup.
TNT lost, 100-95.
READ Unbeaten NorthPort adds sloppy TNT to growing list of victims
In the absence of Erram and Williams, the reigning Governors’ Cup champions had to make do with young sophomore Henry Galinato manning the middle together with import Rondae Hollis Jefferson.
“Basically we don’t have our three starters in Jayson, Kelly and Poy. Mahirap talaga,” said Reyes after his team went down to a second loss in the last three days.
“Alam namin talaga that we won’t play the first three games without them,” he added. “Ang problema namin si Poy. I mean that was just simply inexcusable for him – without Kelly – to take himself out of this last two games.”
READ Poy Erram hit with one-game ban, P20K fine for 'closed fist' foul
Erram was suspended for the flagrant foul 2 he committed against Glenn Yang in the first quarter of the team’s 105-84 loss to Eastern during its conference debut.
Williams is currently still in the US, while Castro is under load management by the team after coming off a grueling playoffs campaign in the season-opening conference.
The 0-2 record is the first for TNT since a similar start during the 2019 Philippine Cup under Bong Ravena and active consultant Mark Dickel.
Incidentally, Reyes also had a 0-2 start during the 2012 Governors’ Cup where he had Paul Harris as import.
But despite being undermanned, the TNT coach felt the Tropang Giga had a good shot at beating the Batang Pier and register their first win in the conference.
“I thought we played well enough today to win this game. We just couldn’t close it out,” said Reyes.
The 21 turnovers, according to Reyes, hurt the cause of the Tropang Giga.
“Obviously, there’s so much for us to work on and figure out if we’re going to be competitive this tournament,” according to Reyes.
“Like I said we have our work cut out for us.”
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
