THERE is equal parts joy and relief at TNT after surviving two knockout games against Magnolia to advance to the PBA 49th Season Philippine Cup semifinals.
TNT's hopes of completing a rare grand slam appeared over until veteran Kelly Williams snatched the rebound after a Jordan Heading miss and hit two free throws that sealed an 80-79 win and ousted the twice-to-beat Hoshots.
PBA TAKEAWAYS: Magnolia heads to another uncertain offseason
By making it to the semifinals, TNT gets a little bit of rest and leeway ahead of a best-of-seven series against Rain or Shine. But coach Chot Reyes said the pressure hasn't eased a bit after surviving a pair of do-or-die games.
“Not really, because we have another series to think about," Reyes said. “There is some relief, to be very honest with you. There is some relief that we were able to get to the Final Four. But any kind of happiness or satisfaction is going to be shortlived.
"At least, we give ourselves a chance.”
Reyes was relieved that Williams sank the free throws, admitting that he didn’t think TNT would be able to survive an overtime game against Magnolia with an injury-hit lineup that got further depleted by Brian Heruela's sprained ankle.
“I knew we didn’t have the legs anymore towards the endgame. We were lucky Kelly made those two free throws. If it went to overtime, I don’t know if we could have lasted an extra five minutes because like I said, kulang na kulang sa tao,” said Reyes.
“I think the spirit of the players, their unwillingness to give up was the key here,” said Reyes.
TNT now turns its attention to what Reyes expects to be another difficult battle against Rain or Shine, which the Tropang 5G met - and beat - in the semifinals of both the Governors' Cup and Commissioner's Cup.
But for now, Reyes is simply glad to keep the grand slam dream alive.
“When you have a chance, that’s all we ask sa buhay," he said. "All we ask for is a chance. We are given a chance. We go back to the drawing board and figure out what we need to do."
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