CHICAGO - After a 99-96 victory that raised grand slam talks to deafening decibels, the TNT Tropang 5G have lost three in a row to mighty San Miguel Beer.
What a difference two Sundays make. From up 1-0 to being down 1-3 following a 105-91 beating on Sunday night at the Mall of Asia Arena.
And just like that, the telecommunications giant's triple crown quest is in the ICU, its hopes flickering.
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What happened to TNT in this best-of-seven PBA Philippine Cup Finals?
Well, foremost among the problems is the fact that their vaunted shooting has deserted them.
Through four games, the Tropang 5G converted only 125 of their 305 field-goal attempts (40.5 percent) while hitting just 51-of-145 from 3 (35.1 percent) and 3-of-15 from 4 (15 percent).
BAD BALL PROTECTION.
While the Beermen aren't exactly shooting the lights out at 44.7 percent from the field overall (148-of-351) their dominance off the boards, 196-178, has provided extra possessions that amounted to 26 more shots,
Turnovers have also tormented the flagship franchise of the MVP Group, a shocking turn for a veteran team that entered this conference with back-to-back championships.
Thus far in their series, TNT has 68 miscues, which San Miguel turned into 100 points. Averaging only 17.5 assists per contest is making matters worse, highlighting the absence of playmakers Jayson Castro and Rey Nambatac.
With Rogor Pogoy limited by a hamstring injury, averaging just 14 points in the series, Jordan Heading leads the TNT offense with 16.7 points and four dimes per, but that's not going to cut it.
TNT needs a more aggressive Calvin Oftana, who has so far been held to a mere 15.3 points a game in the series - a shade below his conference average of 20.6.
Credit goes to the often underappreciated, overlooked San Miguel defense where Chris Ross is a menace on the perimeter while June Fajardo and Mo Tautuaa are a fortress inside.
DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS.
"Very good," a TNT official told me on Monday night while describing San Miguel's D as "physical" and inclined to "pressure."
But TNT's biggest headache is Fajardo, who added another Best Player of the Conference trophy to his collection.
The Tropang 5G have no answer against the Cebuano giant who is tearing through these finals with averages of 22 points and 11.7 rebounds an outing.
To make matters worse, 'The Kraken' is getting a ton of help. Don Trollano had 22 in Game Two while Jericho Cruz fired 23 in Game Four. Marcio Lassiter is contributing as well while CJ Perez is steady.
In contrast, TNT's big guns aren't getting much reinforcement from their supporting cast as Glen Khobuntin, Simon Enciso, Kim Aurin and Brian Heruela have been non-disruptive.
I refuse to count out TNT but it's looking grim as they now need three wins in a row against a team that just dominated them thrice.
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