TNT coach Chot Reyes is set to compete against San Miguel in another series in the Philippine Cup with the goal of defeating the Beermen once again this year.
The key words is "once again" as apparently, Reyes has been dominating San Miguel in all the times he faced the team at the helm as TNT mentor. According to PBA statistics chief Fidel Mangonon, Reyes is actually 4-0 against San Miguel in a Philippine Cup series, whether it is the finals or the semifinals.
Incidentally, all of Reyes’ wins against SMB eventually led to the championship. Below are the times that Reyes has reigned supreme against San Miguel as mentioned by Mangonon.
List of Chot Reyes wins vs SMB in PH Cup playoffs
2009
Talk ‘N Text battled San Miguel for the right to enter the 2009 finals of the Philippine Cup. The Tropang Texters ended the Beermen’s Cinderella bid after they entered the semis as the sixth seed squad with a quarterfinal series win over Barangay Ginebra. The series ended in Game Six with Mark Cardona scoring 34 points including the marginal three to give TNT a 116-115 overtime win over San Miguel. Talk ‘N Text eventually won the title against Alaska in seven games.
2011
The 2011 championship series saw the battle between the top two teams of the eliminations with Talk ‘N Text and San Miguel ending up with similar 11-3 win-loss records. Reyes met the then-Ato Agustin mentored Beermen in the finals with the Tropang Texters ruling the series in six games and Jimmy Alapag and Jayson Castro being named as the MVP of the championship affair. Both squads eventually met again in the Governors’ Cup of that season with Reyes’ bid for a grand slam thwarted by Agustin in Game Seven.
2012
After the conquest of TNT over San Miguel in 2011, the two squads met in a rematch, but in the semifinals of the Philippine Cup with the Tropang Texters outdueling the then-Petron Blaze Boosters once again in seven games. Reyes’ squad won in dramatic fashion as the Texters overcame a 3-1 series deficit with a 92-91 win in Game Seven. TNT beat Powerade in the championship that conference.
2021
Reyes’ most recent conquest of the Beermen came just last season when TNT nipped San Miguel in seven games during the semifinals in his first season back as Tropang GIGA head coach. Both teams exchanged wins throughout the series until TNT ousted San Miguel in Game Seven with a 97-79 victory at the Don Honorio Ventura State University gym in Bacolor. The Tropang GIGA eventually won the finals at the expense of Magnolia.
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