TNT head coach Chot Reyes admitted that it would’ve been a whole different ball game had the Tropang Giga faced a complete Barangay Ginebra in their 2021 Honda PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinal encounter, Wednesday night.
“Oh, certainly,” said the decorated mentor moments after their 84-71 win that ended the Gin Kings’ reign.
“We’re not kidding ourselves.”
There’s really no better way for the flagship MVP group franchise to exact revenge on the very same team that crushed their title hopes in last year’s Clark bubble finals by way of a gentleman’s sweep in the best-of-seven series.
And they did so by making their corporate rivals feel the absence of Japeth Aguilar and Scottie Thompson, stars who were key in the ball club’s ascent back to the top of the league’s most prestigious conference after 13 years.
An MCL sprain suffered coincidentally against TNT last September 12 is the reason why the 6-foot-9 forward had to leave the semi-bubble prematurely.
The do-it-all guard, on the other hand, was not able to rejoin the Barangay back in time as he remained under health and safety protocols.
And on the game itself, Aljon Mariano suffered an apparent ankle injury, indeed making matters worse for head coach Tim Cone.
Photo by PBA Images
So with a shorter rotation, other players had to spend a longer time on the court. New acquisition Christian Standhardinger logged in over 41 minutes, while LA Tenorio and Stanley Pringle played for 39 and 36 minutes respectively.
Photo by PBA Images
But then again, it would’ve been much different if the crowd darlings weren’t ravaged by injuries. Reyes even said that their foes wouldn’t actually be seed last had it not been for the predicament they got into.
Ginebra finished the eliminations at 4-7 and had to defeat Phoenix Super LPG in order to catch the last bus to the quarterfinals.
“I’m sure every team in the league would not want to face Ginebra in the quarterfinals, more so if they had a complete roster,” he said.
“But then again, if Ginebra had a complete roster, I doubt if they would be in eighth place.”
Still, Reyes gave credit to his good pal Cone for the fight they showed, saying that “the game was a lot harder than the score indicated.”
“I would like to congratulate coach Tim Cone and his coaching staff. Facing the manpower shortages that they have, they came out with a good game plan,” he said as TNT trailed 19-25 before turning it around.
“They made it very very difficult. The start was extremely difficult for us,” he added.
“And so we started to discuss that we just need to keep grinding and count on this defense to stay in this game.”
