REIGNING champion TNT goes to the quarterfinals of the PBA 50th Season Commissioner's Cup as the lowest seed at No. 8, reeling from three straight losses counting a 93-86 loss to Barangay Ginebra last Sunday.
TNT will be taking on top-seed NLEX in the quarterfinals, their match-up set to start on Wednesday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium. A knockout game, if necessary, will be on Saturday at the Ynares Center-Antipolo.
READ It's TNT vs NLEX, Magnolia vs Meralco, ROS vs SMB, Ginebra vs Phoenix
Not exactly the result you'd expect from a defending champion reinforced by Bol Bol.
But despite the worrying slide of TNT, Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone said the Tropang 5G remain capable of returning to the finals.
“From Coach Chot's eyes, I don't pretend to know what he thinks, but I think they played a good game,” said Cone. “They wanted to play a good game. And I don't think it was a big deal that they lost.”
“I think they probably got a match-up that they like against NLEX. That's going to be an interesting series, I think, between NLEX and Talk ‘N Text,” he added.
“Talk ‘N Text can turn it around in a heartbeat and find themselves in the finals easily. That's a team that everybody's eyes are on,” said Cone.
TNT import Bol Bol is expected to become a more formidable threat now that the playoffs are about to begin. The former NBA player had 33 points, 10 rebounds, and five blocks against Ginebra.
Cone described how it was facing Bol.
“We feel like we played great defense against him and he still scores 33 points. We ‘held’ him to 33 points tonight. He is such a force in the game especially here in our game and even then, they talk about him so much in the NBA too when he was out there playing.”
“We've had an honor of watching him play 12 games here now. I think it's an honor to have him in the country and it's just a real challenge to go up against him,” said Cone.
“This was a non-bearing game but he came to play. This is the kind of team and he is the kind of player that they can just elevate their game in the playoffs,” said Cone.
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