TNT and Barangay Ginebra drew first blood in their respective series openers in the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals.
The Tropang Giga leaned on the hot shooting of Roger Pogoy to survive the last-minute charge of Rain or Shine, 98-91.
The Kings meanwhile, battled back from an 18-point deficit in the second quarter to pull off a 73-71 squeaker against top-seeded San Miguel Beer in a low-scoring game.
READ Fajardo cleared of any serious injury, says SMB
Game 2 is set Friday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium as the finals protagonists in the last two conferences of Season 49 eye aim to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven series.
Here are four takeaways in Wednesday night’s Game 1 doubleheader at the Mall of Asia Arena.
1. SAN MIGUEL MISSES JUNE MAR FAJARDO’S SCORING – the Ginebra defense and the calf injury the reigning league MVP suffered in the pivotal fourth quarter hurt the highest-scoring team in the conference. The 35-year-old Fajardo was held to 3-of-10 shooting for six points, way below his average of 17.5 points. He also didn’t troop to the foul line in the 33 minutes that he played, though he grabbed a game-high 19 rebounds. The Beermen could likely miss more Fajardo’s scoring given he has to endure for the rest of the series the tight calf muscle bothering him. Although given the go-signal to play, San Miguel is taking a cautious approach when it comes to the health issue of the team’s Most Valuable Player.
2. TNT KEPT JHONARD CLARITO OFF THE BOARDS – after averaging 18.5 rebounds in Rain or Shine’s back-to-back wins over a relatively undersized NLEX side in the quarterfinals, the hardworking guard found it hard to penetrate TNT’s defensive wall in the middle tightly guarded by Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser, Poy Erram, Kelly Williams, and Calvin Oftana. Clarito only mustered to grab seven rebounds as the Elasto Painters were clobbered off the boards by the Tropang 5G, 59-44. Ganuelas-Rosser, Erram, and Oftana had 10 each for TNT, which also got nine from the 43-year-old Williams. Rookie Caelan Tiongson was the leading Rain or Shine rebounder with eight.
3. POGOY IS TAKING CHARGE OFFENSIVELY FOR TNT – with Rey Nambatac out for the rest of the conference and Oftana still bothered by an ankle injury, it’s Pogoy who’s been taking care of the offense for the grand slam-seeking franchise. The Cebuano two-way guard out of Far Eastern University averaged 24 points in the Tropang 5G’s quarterfinals affair with the Magnolia Hotshots, helping the team negate its twice-to-beat disadvantage against the Hotshots to advance in the semis for the third straight time this season. He had 30 points in TNT’s 80-79 escape act against Magnolia that forged a do-or-die game for a berth in the semis. And against Rain or Shine, he went up for 28 points and hit a crucial four-point shot late in Game One to cap the win that moved the Tropang 5G closer to another finals stint.
4. TIM CONE MAKES FULL USE OF BENCH – the veteran coach has always been known for keeping an eight- or at most, nine-man rotation especially when the semis and finals come. But Cone opted to use the Ginebra bench to his benefit this time, and went to the likes of Raymond Aguilar, Ben Adamos, Jayson David, Jeremiah Gray, and Nards Pinto to give the starters the much-needed rest and allowed most of them to be fresh for crunch time. In all, Raymond Aguilar and Co. accounted for 14 bench points. While San Miguel still got 29 points from its bench, Ginebra’s starters outscored their San Miguel counterparts, 59-42, in a battle as close as Game One.
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