CHICAGO - As the contract talks continue to drag, lingering like the embers of a bonfire, the camp of star guard Mikey Williams bet heavily on this.
The moment the losses pile up, TNT would feel the heat.
Well, it took only one game into this Commissioner's Cup campaign.
"We couldn't seem to find baskets," interim coach and current team manager Jojo Lastimosa told reporters on the heels of a 110-102 loss to Magnolia where the Tropang Giga shot 45 percent from the field (39-of-86) and 31 percent from 3 on a 15-for-47 fare.
READ: Jolas passes baton to Chot on dealings with Mikey Williams
"I think that was really the primary problem sa amin ngayon, wala si Mikey (Williams) and Roger (Pogoy)," Lastimosa added.
While Lastimosa's assessment was honest and endearing, it showed TNT's cards. He might as well have genuflected in front of the Fil-AM guard and begged him to come back.
TNT NEEDS MIKEY
But Jolas wasn't fibbing. Absent a shooter who can score in his sleep and do so with effortless grace, TNT looked like Meralco's twin: Good enough to beat NLEX and a slew of inferior teams but wanting against a powerhouse such as Magnolia. Never mind San Miguel and Ginebra.
Hearing TNT echo the dire necessity, if not utter desperation, for his services must have made Williams' ears bloom like cauliflowers.
The cash register just rang, cha-ching, cha-ching. Williams is about to be paid. There is no other alternative unless the Tropang Giga want to spend the rest of the conference going through nights like Sunday when the TNT couldn't catch fire with a lighter and a can of gasoline.
And that is exactly why the erstwhile vacationing Chot Reyes, last heard to be in London on business and pleasure, has entered the picture.
"I don't want to be bothered anymore. I have too much on my plate," Lastimosa said of turning over the negotiating reins to Reyes.
THIS IMPASSE SHOULD END SOON.
Reyes is not only the best coaching mind in the MVP group, he is a seasoned strategist, politician, diplomat and chief negotiator.
Coach Chot had previously succeeded in reeling Mikey back to the herd. He will do it again.
Reyes' return reminds me of a scene in the movie The Godfather 3 when Michael Corleone, the character brilliantly played by the legendary Al Pacino, screamed in frustration: "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!"
Reyes, I was told, was happy to be away from basketball, at least temporarily. Removing himself from the spotlight provided a shield from all the noise and vitriol that his critics continue to smear on social media.
But desperate times demand desperate measures.
And as TNT stood in the crossroads of losing a franchise player, the Tropang Giga had no choice but to bring in Reyes, who might as well take in another role: The Closer.
MYTHICAL FIVE. Has Mikey Williams been cancelled? Is the Mythical first team selection exclusive to players of Ginebra and San Miguel?
Mikey deserves a spot in that first team. He was Finals MVP who clinched the Governors' Cup title last April over Ginebra on the strength of 38 points and 10 threes in Game 6.
Like him or hate him, the numbers don't lie.
Just saying.
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