ANTIPOLO — It is quite becoming a painstaking search as Titan Ultra continues to find the identity it hopes to be known for, being a newcomer in the PBA.
Even Joshua Munzon acknowledges as much, but what the star guard really hopes to see is for the Giant Risers to discover their teeth on defense firstly after losing their third straight in the Season 50 Philippine Cup on Friday night.
“I think we have to figure it out on defense first,” he offered on the heels of their 130-92 defeat at the hands of TNT at the Ynares Center here.
Titan Ultra hasn’t won again since upending Meralco by way of a 100-96 decision in its league debut last October, first falling to Converge and then bowing to Magnolia–games in which they missed Calvin Abueva.
The ‘Beast’ though, came back against the Tropang 5G and even had 15 points and 11 rebounds, but his return hardly made any difference as their foes broke away as early as the second frame behind a 40-point explosion.
Allowing last season’s double champions to score that much in a single quarter was, in essence, a microcosm of the problem that’s been hounding them.
In fact, after Friday night’s humiliating defeat, the Giant Risers have given up an average of 128.6 points in their last three games–120.5 if you include the Bolts game, as they have yet to limit a team below a hundred points.
“We’ve given up a hundred and twenty, a hundred and thirty, a hundred and twenty almost every game. It’s kinda hard to win like that,” said Munzon.
That’s why the Season 49 Most Improved Player has been trying to do his part in at least putting up a fight for Titan Ultra. He was actually one of their few bright spots against the Tropa as he led all scorers with 20 points.
“Trying to. Definitely trying to lead by example,” said Munzon, who’s now averaging 23.25 points. “Just trying to help everybody out there –not just myself, and do winning plays not just on offense but on defense, too.”
But he knows, too, that he can only do so much, that the kind of success they’re all wishing to attain won’t happen in an instant–Rome wasn’t built in a day, as the adage goes, and that’s exactly what he’s been preaching to the team.
He no longer had to look further than last season to prove his point, citing the NorthPort team that made it to the Commissioner’s Cup semis as an example.
“It takes time,” he said. “Everything takes time. Even last season, when we made that run with NorthPort, that took time for us to build that.
“It just takes time. We still have a lot of younger guys that haven’t really gotten a lot of minutes and now they’re given minutes. So, we’re just trying to figure it all out–learning on the fly, building that chemistry.”
#WATCH: Joshua Munzon admits Titan Ultra is still looking for that full strength just four games into their young run 🏀
📹 @justinebacnis /Tiebreaker Times#PBA50 pic.twitter.com/ic6UZv1ooF
— Tiebreaker Times (@tiebreakertimes) October 24, 2025
