TNT coach Chot Reyes lauded the play of Poy Erram in Game 6 of the PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals - proof of how important the big man is to the team.
Erram scored 10 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter to lift TNT to an 87-85 win over Barangay Ginebra and arrange a winner-take-all battle for the title on Friday night at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
COLUMN: On this night, at least, Erram turns from TNT pariah to savior
It was a big bounce back for Erram after he was involved in a verbal exchange with Reyes during the third quarter of Game 5, which TNT lost.
"We just told Poy to focus on shutting off the noise. 'Yun ang importante sa kanya," said Reyes.
"I told him of all of our players in this series, he was the one with the highest plus-minus in the effort chart," said Reyes, referring to an advanced stats metric.
Erram was called for three early fouls in Game Six but found a way to make an impact and not get called for another one.
"I said, 'Focus, shut off the noise,' because his presence is very important. Luckily, he did just that," said Reyes.
Reyes said he and Erram didn't address the Game Five verbal exchange as he quickly moved on from the incident, although Erram said in a seperate interview that he apologized to the team for his actions.
'TNT is a family'
In the end, Reyes said TNT is a family, regardless of what happened during Game 5.
"We felt no need to address it. Number one, I wasn't aware kung anuman 'yung usap-usapan because I don't read those things. I just stayed focused on the task at hand and kung anuman 'yung usap-usapan sa labas, that has very little value to us," said Reyes.
"We had a regular team meeting yesterday and we didn't even need to address it because that's the level of trust in our team. And if we get on each other's nerve, mag-sigawan kami - magkakapatid, magkakapamilya, nagsisigawan at nag-aaway, di ba? But that doesn't mean that they're going to break up as a family, right?"
"I won't say normal but like I said, we did not even have to talk about it or address it," said Reyes.
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