A MAJOR part of its past helped the TnT franchise finally end its six-year PBA title drought.
Chot Reyes led the Tropang Giga back on top in his first conference back as coach, capturing the Philippine Cup crown on Friday night with a 94-79 Game Five win over Magnolia in their best-of-seven finals.
The title was the eighth in franchise history, the first since the 2015 Commissioner’s Cup.
The team had to convince Reyes to coming out of his PBA coaching sabbatical to helop them regain its glory days.
The 58-year-old Reyes was responsible for more than half of the team’s championship trophies, including back-to-back all-Filipino titles in 2011 and 2012.
Following Reyes' exit in 2012 to coach the Gilas Pilipinas team, TNT won two championships and had several runner-up heartbreakers, including last year’s Philippine Cup bubble at Clark.
“It’s been a long journey, but I’m very proud of the way the guys behind me played,” said Reyes in his short post game valedictory after the Tropang Giga wrapped up the title series at the Don Honorio Ventura State University gym, 4-1.
Chot Reyes wins his ninth PBA title.
In his first conference with the team after taking over the coaching reins from active team consultant Mark Dickel, Reyes guided TnT on top of the eliminations with a 10-1 record, winning its first six games en route to claiming the No. 1 seeding in the playoffs.
The Tropang Giga dethroned Barangay Ginebra Kings in the quarterfinals, survived a challenging seven-game series against five-time Philippine Cup champion San Miguel, before making short work of Magnolia to finally bag the championship.
In doing so, Reyes made TnT the first franchise in 20 years after Red Bull to beat all SMC teams on its way to the top.
The multi-titled coach says it's still all about the players.
“I have to give this award really to the players, the guys who are here behind me. They were really put in the effort. They stayed together throughout the adversity,” he said.
“And this is just a great reward for all their hardships.”
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