CHICAGO - Picked 15th overall in the 2015 PBA Rookie Draft, Don Trollano is the embodiment of an Adamson Soaring Falcons basketball player.
Scrappy. Indomitable. An overachiever.
Having spent one year with Blackwater in 2019-20 season, the 6-foot-3, 160-pound small forward is also a survivor.
READ Trollano brushes off backlash from predicting SMB sweep of TNT
And now in his 11th year in the league, the one-time All-Star and the PBA's Mr. Quality Minutes honoree in 2025 is gunning for his fourth title.
Not bad for an early second-rounder in a talent-rich draft class bannered by big names such as Scottie Thompson, Troy Rosario, Chris Newsome and the then No. 1 pick Mo Tautuaa.
A RELIABLE DON.
The 34-year-old Trollano was already a lethal weapon for San Miguel during the elimination round of this ongoing Philippine Cup conference, averaging 16.05 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists.
He has now taken his act to the Finals stage.
After a dull four-point output in San Miguel's 96-91 Game One loss to TNT last Wednesday, Trollano bounced back sharply with 22 points in the Beermen's 111-92 Game Two win.
As is the case in every Philippine Cup Finals that involve a June Mar Fajardo-led San Miguel team, the nine-team league MVP is the Beermen's spearhead.
Through two Finals games, the 6-foot-10, 268-lb center was impactful as blunt force trauma with a combined 41 points and 33 rebounds.
SILENT KILLER.
While TNT can see The Kraken coming and anticipate the amount of damage he can inflict, Trollano is a quiet and dangerously unpredictable assassin.
"Yun ang pinakamahirap, kumalat ang scoring," TNT's Poy Erram told reporters after five other Beermen besides Fajardo scored in double figures in Game Two.
Erram highlighted the recurring pick-your-poison ordeal teams struggle with when facing San Miguel:
Let Fajardo loose and he'll murder you in the paint; throw multiple bodies on him and "the other guys" will have a field day shooting outside.
"They outplayed us and if you allow a team that strong like San Miguel to outplay you, then we have no chance," TNT coach Chot Reyes said after sorting through the debris of his team's 19-point loss.
Even though his team is deeply talented and well-coached, Reyes suggested prayers could come in handy in the best-of-seven championship series.
Keeping the faith never hurts.
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