TNT head coach Chot Reyes finds himself entering the PBA Finals without one of his most trusted floor generals in Jayson Castro for the first time.
For starters, the 38-year-old is out for a year for sustaining a right patellar tendon tear on his right knee during Game 3 of their semifinal series against Rain or Shine last February 28. He has since gone under the knife for repair.
The Tropang Giga did manage to get the job done sans their main man, finishing off their opponents by way of a 97-92 victory in Game 5 on Friday.
Still, it remains to be seen how far they can go in the best-of-7 title bout against either Ginebra or NorthPort but the champion bench tactician would be the very first to admit that it would be a challenging journey ahead.
“Very, very difficult,” he said moments after their gentleman’s sweep of the youth-laden Elasto Painters at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
“Jayson is much more than just the skills he brings to the table. It’s a lot of other things – leadership, maturity, reading the game. So, in a Finals, those are very, very important; those are critical elements,” he furthered.
From their reign of dominance during the late 2000s and even up to his return to the helm in 2021, Reyes always had Castro by his side serving not only as his on-court extension but the leader that each and everyone listens to.
It’s the kind of bond that began in 2008 when the multiple-time Coach of the Year awardee used the no. 3 pick for Talk N Text to draft the PCU product.
Together, they would go on to win six championships, the most recent of which was the Season 49 Governors’ Cup crown for a successful title defense bid.
Castro won not only his ninth title but his third PBA Press Corps FInals MVP award as well behind averages of 10.3 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 5.1 assists.
That’s why Reyes could only lament missing their Finals MVP in TNT’s quest for gold in their first Commissioner’s Cup Finals since 2019, where a team led by their star guard and Best Import Terrence Jones bowed to San Miguel Beer.
But that doesn’t mean they are throwing in the towel whatsoever, with all of them looking forward to battling with the other remaining Tropang Giga.
“We just have to not worry about who’s not here, and just fight with who is here,” he said.
“And what we have right now, we really have no choice but to go out there and give it our best and we’ll just see what happens.”
