SMART CLARK GIGA CITY — The 2020 PBA Philippine Cup Finals may have ended in Game Five on Wednesday night, but it was no walk in the part for Barangay Ginebra due to the challenge from TNT.
Many believed that the Tropang Giga would just roll over, since it was missing the services of Jayson Castro and Ray Parks due to injury. But the young guns – led by Roger Pogoy, Simon Enciso, and Poy Erram – carried the fight.
In fact, they seemed poised to send the series to a Game Six, when Enciso caught fire and nailed back-to-back three-pointers. TNT even had a 73-68 lead with exactly five minutes remaining in the game.
That was, unfortunately, the last hurrah of the gallant crew. Japeth Aguilar and Stanley Pringle connived for a 10-0 run, before LA Tenorio made both of his free throws in the dying seconds for the title-clinching 82-78 win.
Still, the heart that TNT showed drew huge admiration from the Barangay, especially from head coach Tim Cone.
“I’ve lost championships because of injured players, so I know how tough it is. But I thought that the coaching staff of Talk ‘N Text coached brilliantly with what they had,” he expressed. “Truly, brilliantly with what they had.”
Pogoy recently earned much respect from fans online with his consistent play in the series. He finished with a team-high 23 points and eight rebounds in the 44 minutes and 18 seconds he saw action.
Erram, meanwhile, made 18 points and 15 rebounds, finishing all Finals games with a double-double to his name. Enciso provided 17 points, while Troy Rosario supplied 12 markers and eight boards.
Cone sees a bright future for the MVP Group’s crown jewel with those pieces, believing that they could be a dominant team in the coming years.
“They’re primed to really step into another level,” said the league’s most accomplished mentor with 23 championships.
“Jayson, I think, has a couple of really good years left as long as he can stay healthy. Their core is very young with Troy, Pogoy, Enciso, and Bobby Ray, who’s still a second-year player. So they have a really, really young core that they’re going to build on, and I think they’re just going to get better and better.
“And I think that if we’re all not careful, they will become the dominant team over the next few years,” Cone added.
Asked if there will be some sort of rivalry between Ginebra and TNT following this series, the 62-year-old bench tactician had this to say: “I think everybody’s gonna have a rivalry against Talk ‘N Text.
“I mean, we’ll always have that corporate rivalry between us and Talk ‘N Text. San Miguel will have it, Purefoods will have it. And I think that’s just going to continue to blossom,” he continued.
“But there are some other teams out there that they’re gonna have a say in who keeps winning these championships. Hopefully, we’ll be in the mix as well.”
