TNT shocked Barangay Ginebra with a masterful performance on defense and offense on its way to a 99-72 victory on Wednesday at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum, stepping closer to taking home the PBA 49th Season Governors’ Cup title.
The Tropang Giga regained both their defensive intensity and scoring touch, outscoring the Gin Kings, 30-13, in the second quarter to turn Game Five into a mismatch and make a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven finals moot and academic by halftime.
READ Ultra-sharp TNT opens 23-point halftime lead vs Ginebra in Game 5
Kelly Williams sparked TNT on the offensive end by scoring the first seven points of Game 5 in a surprise starting role for the Tropang Giga, who can capture their second straight Governors’ Cup championship on Friday at the Big Dome.
Most of the expectations was that Game Five would be a tight contest, judging from how intense the first four games were with TNT taking the first two games before Ginebra equalized by capturing the next two.
But TNT made sure that it won't go down in the finals series for the third straight time, holding its ground on both ends, especially on defense which has become the Tropang Giga's trademark this conference.
TNT’s defense was so superb that Justin Brownlee was limited to only eight points, a PBA career-low, according to the league’s statistics chief Fidel Mangonon.
The Tropang Giga were already leading the Gin Kings, 79-48, by the end of the third quarter, prompting both teams to pull out their starters one by one.
Ginebra’s scoring output in Game Five was the lowest for either team in this finals.
“I think the most important thing, for us not to panic and keep our heads around us so that we could make good decisions. I think that’s number one,” said TNT coach Chot Reyes.
“Number two was just our focus on our strength which has been our strength the whole tournament long and that was our defense. And I said let’s go back to what got us here, and that’s playing great defense.
"Very fortunately, the players responded,” said Reyes.
The 42-year-old Williams finished with 11 points, seven in the first quarter that got TNT ahead for good, 26-20, in a wire-to-wire win. The Tropang Giga headed to the dugout with a huge 56-33 halftime advantage.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson had 16 points and 10 rebounds in, most importantly, 31 minutes and 36 seconds of court time after playing for 48 minutes in Games Two and Three.
RR Pogoy also got his shooting going as he had 16 points on 3-for-4 from threes including a buzzer-beater to cap off the third quarter. Calvin Oftana had 15 points and eight rebounds, his effort finally resulting in a TNT win.
Brownlee only shot 3-for-13 from the field, missing all three of his threes and two from four-point distance. He was pulled out early in the fourth quarter to finish with single digits for the first time in his career, surpassing his previous career-low of 10 in Game 4 of the 2016 Governors’ Cup finals against Meralco.
With Brownlee struggling, Scottie Thompson and LA Tenorio were the top scorers for Ginebra with 13 points apiece.
The scores:
TNT 99 – Hollis-Jefferson 16, Pogoy 16, Oftana 15, Williams 11, Castro 10, Nambatac 7, Erram 7, Exciminiano 6, Khobuntin 4, Heruela 3, Galinato 2, Aurin 2, Payawal 0, Ebona 0, Varilla 0.
Barangay Ginebra 72 – Tenorio 13, Thompson 13, Holt 10, Brownlee 8, Abarrientos 7, J. Aguilar 6, R. Aguilar 5, Cu 5, Pessumal 4, Ahanmisi 1, Adamos 0, Pinto 0.
Quarters: 26-20; 56-33; 79-48; 99-72.
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