TNT coach Chot Reyes saw in the eyes of his players in the days leading up to Game 5 that they don’t want their season to end just yet.
That mentality translated into their performance on the court as TNT lived to fight another day after defeating San Miguel, 86-78, last Wednesday in the PBA 49th Season Philippine Cup Finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“I saw a lot of fight and just an unwillingness to give up,” said Reyes. “Our pre-game talk was all about, this has been a very, very long season and now, we are down to our final week. And I said, let’s make this the best week. We’ll just fight as hard as we can and we’ll see what happens.”
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“And luckily, I could see in (Tuesday’s) practice and (Wednesday) in the body language and in the eyes of our players that they were just not willing to give up. And we’ve said that all year. As long as we show up, we don’t give up, we give ourselves a chance,” Reyes added.
It has indeed been a long season for TNT.
By winning Game 5, TNT is scheduled to play its 75th game of the season on Friday night at the Philsports Arena - tying an all-time league record set by the 1996 Alaska team that won a grand slam, according to PBA statistics chief Fidel Mangonon.
Reyes said the attitude for Game 6 will stay the same as TNT will play once again with a depleted roster without Poy Erram (meniscus tear, ankle sprain) and Simon Enciso (fractured orbital bone) the rest of the way.
“I just heard that we are going to play our 75th game on Friday, which is the most in PBA history ever. And it’s been a very, very long season. The players are just playing on sheer grit and heart at this point.
"Whatever it takes, without Poy and without Simon, as long as we have five guys who can walk, we are going to keep fighting,” Reyes said.
TNT shot 44 percent in Game 5, and held San Miguel to its lowest scoring output of the finals series, making only 32 percent of its shots.
“We made sure to have quality possessions. That was written on our board. The first line in our offensive reminders is to have quality possessions. That means we don’t turn the ball over. And I think this is the first time that we had more turnover points than San Miguel,” said Reyes, citing the 20-12 advantage in points off turnovers.
“And I think this is the game where we’ve had the least number of turnovers (15). And so when we don’t turn the ball over, we give them less chances to score. And I think that was the big part of why we were able to limit San Miguel’s offense.
“Because we limited our turnovers, and by doing so, we cut down their second-chance points. So even when they were making a run in the last few games, when they were making a run, we were trying to push too hard. So we kind of flipped the script today, to say, relax and make sure we just have those quality possessions,” Reyes said.
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