KJ McDaniels returns to the semifinals of the PBA Governors' Cup and look who's waiting for him?
None other than former team TNT Tropon ang Giga.
McDaniels and the Meralco Bolts sealed a best-of-five showdown against the top seeds after coming through with a 113-107 come-from-behind win in overtime against the Magnolia Hotshots Wednesday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
READ: Meralco comeback puts sorry end to Magnolia season
The former NBA player is thrilled to meet the Tropang Giga in the semis, where he last played during the 2019 edition of the conference while still playing for TNT.
The Tropang Giga, ironically, lost to Allen Durham and the Bolts in the deciding Game 5 of their semis encounter.
“It’s exciting. I lost to Meralco when I’m with them (TNT). Going up against them is going to be a lot of familiar faces,” said McDaniels, who played back then for TNT active consultant Mark Dickel and coach Bong Ravena.
“So we just have to be prepared. It’s going to be a quick turnaround. We got tomorrow (Thursday) to prepare. We’ll go in, watch the film, and then just prepare for Friday and be ready. Come out and fight the same.”
Game 1 of the Meralco-TNT semis series is set on Friday at Ynares Center in Antipolo.
McDaniels had that same outlook against Magnolia, finishing with 27 points, 10 rebounds, and two assists, while nailing a clutch, over-the-top three pointer against Antonio Hester that gave Meralco a little more breathing room, 109-103, with 57 seconds left in overtime of the hotly-contested game.
Down 96-91 with 1:17 left to play in regulation, the Bolts battled their way back behind five unanswered points courtesy of Newsome, Chris Banchero, and Aaron Black’s clutch jumper at the buzzer that sent the game into overtime, 96-all.
“We just stayed locked in, never put our heads down, and we’ve faced adversities the entire conference, so it wasn’t something new to us,” said McDaniels of Meralco making its way back to forge the extra period.
“We just came through and executed, defended them hard and made them miss shots, and not give up second chances shots. My teammates came down at it and did a great job. Credit to my teammates, I can’t do it by myself,” he added.
McDaniels described Magnolia as a great team. The Hotshots actually led by as many as 66-53 in the third quarter, but the import is proud of the way the rest of the Bolts battled back from such a deficit.
“We had to fight through. Credit to my teammates, they all stepped up in a big way. It’s a great win at the end of the day,” said the league leader in rebounding.
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