CHOT Reyes wants nothing but a healthy Kelly Williams and Jayson Castro for TNT’s PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinal against Rain or Shine.
An injury-free Williams and Castro would be an interesting best-of-three between the No. 4 seed Tropang Giga against the No. 5 seed Elasto Painters, according to Reyes.
"The only way we can compete with them is if we have everyone on board. I hope we have a few days for Kelly to be 100 percent. I hope Jayson is not too banged up. That’s our main concern first, to make sure that they recover and that they are 100 percent ready for the game,” said Reyes about his two veteran warriors.
Williams and Castro came up big in TNT’s 98-93 win over Magnolia that clinched for the team a quarterfinals berth.
The former MVP had 19 points, eight rebounds, and four assists despite having to deal with back spasm, while Castro’s hurting knee didn’t stop him from dropping 18 points and issuing seven assists against the Hotshots.
It would be tough for the Tropang Giga to match up with the Elasto Painters if the team is not at full fitness.
“We have to figure out how to stop a team that is playing at a very high level. The difficulty with Rain or Shine is that there’s not one guy that you can key on because everyone is playing very well,” said Reyes, mentioning Beau Belga, Santi Santillan, Adrian Nocum, Gian Mamuyac, Jhonard Clarito, and Andrei Caracut among those who had been delivering for the Elasto Painters.
“They’re all really playing very well. It will take a lot for us to be prepared and be ready to compete.”
Well-rested Elasto Painters
TNT beat Rain or Shine in their lone head-to-head meeting this conference, 108-107, though that was before the Elasto Painters won six of their last seven games to barge into the playoffs.
Add the fact that Rain or Shine had the luxury of having a week’s rest heading to the quarterfinals after playing its final game last week in a 120-104 rout of NLEX.
“That’s going to be interesting. But like I said, if we have everyone ready and 100 percent, I think we can give them a good fight,” said Reyes.
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