THEY say basketball is a young man’s sport, but this PBA Governors’ Cup Finals between TNT and Barangay Ginebra is proving why it’s always handy to keep a vet or two when the going gets tough.
After Tim Cone unleashed LA Tenorio and Joe Devance in the Game 3 and 4 wins for Barangay Ginebra, it was coach Chot Reyes’ turn to ask his own trusted veteran for a push, starting 42-year-old Kelly Williams in pivotal Game 5 for TNT.
That decision paid off for Reyes and TNT.
The 16-year veteran put together a vintage two-way effort in the first half, scoring all of his 11 points while anchoring a rejuvenated defense as the Tropang Giga took a 56-33 lead at the half and never looked back to move a win away from a title repeat.
READ: TNT a win away from title repeat after Game 5 blowout vs Ginebra
“All I can say is, it’s the team. It’s the coach, it’s coach Chot. They know I’ve been struggling on and off the court, they just really rallied around me,” the former PBA MVP said as he's struggled heavily in this finals affair with Ginebra before this game.
“They basically told me they believed in me and that gave me a lot of confidence and fuel to make sure I come in and focus and do whatever the team needs me to do to get a win.”
Reyes and Williams’ relationship might not be as long as Cone and Devance’s but the pair has been together for a considerable amount of time as well – having been together for more than a decade, both at TNT and in the national team.
That’s why Reyes was always confident that Williams was due for a solid game, and with him keeping his faith in his veteran, it paid dividends.
“Just the coaches’ intuition, I think, or instinct. I took a look at the numbers and both Rey [Nambatac] and Kelly had really bad plus-minus numbers for our team. I said I’m going to trust you to come back and contribute for us and I’m going to start you,” Reyes shared.
“We told them yesterday in the team meeting, I trust that you’re going to get the job done. We’ve been together for a long time, Kelly and I, we’ve built that strong trust relationship. And I just told Kelly I’m going to trust you to come in, because we need Kelly Williams,” he added.
“We need Kelly Williams for us to have a chance, for us to be able to compete against a tough Ginebra team.”
And Williams delivered. Together with the brilliant Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, they played as the heart and soul of the stingy TNT defense which only allowed 32 percent shooting from the field for Barangay Ginebra.
At times, he was even covering the brilliant Justin Brownlee and played a huge role in that defensive scheme which limited the naturalized Filipino to his all-time low of eight points on 3-13 shooting.
Reyes certainly took note of that.
“He scored 7 points, I think he ended up with 11, but Kelly’s contribution to us is his defensive ability and his energy. He does a lot for us defensively that’s very important in our scheme of things. We hope he can sustain it some more for the rest of the series,” he continued.
“We all know what Kelly can do, right? It’s just that he was not in his usual game the entire series. We just had a nice good team conversation yesterday before practice. I was just very straightforward and I told Kelly we’re not going to win the series without him contributing.”
But more so than his presence on the court, it’s his voice outside of it which makes him even more valuable in this team.
With eight PBA titles already, he knows all about winning it all and he understands that the hardest game to win will always be the clincher.
He made sure to remind his team of that before he walked off the locker room.
“[I told them to] Just to stay together. Stay focused. Stay humble. Whatever happens we have to make sure we stay together. That’s all we can control. Our effort.”
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