CALVIN Oftana fired 32 points behind a fiery 6-of-12 shooting on threes as TNT stretched its winning streak to six by overcoming Barangay Ginebra, 91-86, in the PBA 49th Season Commissioner’s Cup at the Philsports Arena.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson added 25 points and 13 rebounds while going a perfect 13-of-13 from the free-throw line as the Tropang Giga asserted their mastery of the Gin Kings in a rematch of the Governors’ Cup Finals last November.
Mikey sits courtside for TNT game: 'I wish I could compete with them'
TNT moved up to 6-2 to take solo first place in the leaderboard while sending Ginebra down to seventh place on a 6-4 mark.
Oftana knocked down two free throws with 6.4 seconds left to settle the final score, helping TNT weather a late Ginebra rally led by Justin Brownlee.
TNT’s defense was also on display in the game, limiting Ginebra to a conference-low 36.1 percent shooting from the field that left the Gin Kings equaling their meager output in a previous win over Blackwater last Sunday.
“Definitely, our best defensive game,” TNT coach Chot Reyes said. “I thought there were still some executional lapses offensively towards the end. But credit to Ginebra, they came up with a very good game plan that really gave us a lot of problems.
"We just had to continue solving those problems down the stretch throughout the game. Fortunately, we made enough defensive stops to give us enough possessions because we all know Ginebra is the number one defensive team in the league."
TNT also won the game with its former player Mikey Williams sitting at courtside.
Brownlee had 20 points, 16 rebounds, and five assists, although he shot only 5 of 21 from the field. Stephan Holt added 18 points, while Troy Rosario chipped in 16 points and 8 rebounds.
A Jayson Castro lay-up brought TNT’s lead to 89-80 with 1:47 left in the game. Ginebra had one last fightback with Brownlee draining a four-point play and making a lay-up with 20 seconds left that cut the lead to three.
The Gin Kings were forced to play the foul game, with Oftana sinking those key charity shots.
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TNT went on a 7-0 stretch after Ginebra was able to tie the game at 70, with Oftana and Castro joining forces in that run.
Hollis-Jefferson made two free throws with 4:16 left for the biggest lead of the match-up at 87-75.
“In a lot of ways, Ginebra has so many weapons. We just basically have to pick our poison against them and you can see, we had a 10-point lead [the] last four minutes and it wasn’t safe because we had no disillusions, we knew that they would come back,” said Reyes.
“For us to just do our best and defend their main weapons… We defend somebody, we are bound to leave somebody wide open. And those are just the trade-offs that we have to make. Luckily, we won in those trade-offs. That’s what happened in the end,” Reyes said.
The scores:
TNT 91 – Oftana 32, Hollis-Jefferson 25, Erram 10, Castro 9, Pogoy 6, Aurin 3, Razon 3, Khobuntin 3, Galinato 0, Heruela 0, Williams 0.
Barangay Ginebra 86 – Brownlee 20, Holt 18, Rosario 16, Thompson 9, Abarrientos 8, J. Aguilar 7, Malonzo 6, Ahanmisi 2.
Quarters: 22-25; 45-46; 68-64; 91-86.
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