CHOT Reyes wasn’t looking past Magnolia, so there was no effort on his part to plan for the rest of the holiday season.
“We did not plan at all. We don’t want to preempt ourselves. We were not assuming anything because we might play another game on Monday. So we didn’t plan at all after this,” said Reyes.
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But all that will have to be put in the back burner after twice-to-beat TNT took care of business right in its first game against the Hotshots in the PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals, 118-109, to book a seat in the best-of-seven semifinals.
The semis won’t start until January 4, meaning the Tropang 5G will have a week’s rest before returning to action against the winner of the quarterfinals series between Rain or Shine and Meralco.
“Now I’ll go back to the dugout to consult with our coaching staff and trainers to be able to put together a plan for our preparation,” said Reyes.
Truth to tell, the TNT coach has so much respect for the Hotshots he wasn’t expecting his team to pull away early and even lead by as many as 27 points (49-22).
“We have no illusions that it’s going to be a cakewalk. We have no illusions that it’s going to be an easy game for us,” admitted Reyes.
“Credit to Magnolia. We got them down in a hole early but they kept coming back.”
The Hotshots did rally back and came as close as 73-79 in the final seconds of the third period.
But Jordan Heading, Calvin Oftana, Roger Pogoy, and Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser instigated a 17-10 run in the first five minutes of the final quarter to take control anew, 96-83.
“When they’re making their run, we just said we need to keep calm and keep our poise to be able to withstand that furious Magnolia rally,” said Reyes.
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