TNT relied on the veteran core that had led them to three-straight All Filipino crowns to lift the Katropa on Thursday evening as they took a 101-94, Game Five win against the San Miguel Beermen at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
With the victory, the Katropa are now ahead by a game in the best-of-seven series, 3-2, and will have the opportunity to close the series out on Saturday, February 18, at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
“I think they made their adjustments, a lot of adjustments,” said TNT coach Nash Racela on the match. “Credit to their coaches for making it really hard for us but credit to our coaches also because they were able to make counter adjustments.”
In the series-leading win, it was the veterans who shone the brightest for TNT. Kelly Williams, Ranidel De Ocampo, and Jayson Castro joined hands and gave a throwback performance, each scoring 18 markers on a combined 20-of-34 shooting.
Williams added seven rebounds and three steals to his statline, while Castro dished out seven assists.
“We’re trying to be like the San Antonio Spurs,” Racela quipped. “Again, if you review all the line-ups in the PBA, we have the most number of veterans.”
The Katropa gained leverage late in the third canto. Lagging behind 68-67 after a June Mar Fajardo bucket, TNT scored six straight points behind Williams and Kris Rosales to take a 73-68 lead approaching the end of the frame.
The Beermen rallied back in the payoff period after closing by just a solitary point, 83-82, but that became their final run. Castro, Williams, and Roger Pogoy sparked on offense to widen the gap to seven, 99-92, with 27.6 ticks left.
SMB made one last ditch to stage a comeback behind Santos, but perfect charities by De Ocampo in the game’s waning seconds shut the door for the Beermen and sealed the seven-point victory for TNT.
“I think that’s the biggest factor in the series. You have to think even harder of what the other team will do. The more important thing is the in-game adjustments,” added Racela.
Beermen big man Fajardo still posted a double-double of 13 markers and 15 boards, but he had a hard night on offense as the bullish Williams was tasked to defend him.
However, Racela insisted that it was still a collective effort to shoot down the Kraken.
“It’s not about a personal duel. If it was just one-on-one against Kelly and June Mar, it would be hard to win that. It really took entire team effort to defend June Mar,” said Racela.
Arwind Santos led the Beermen with 18 markers. Alex Cabagnot and Marcio Lassiter supplied 17 and 16 points, respectively. The duo, however, shot just a combined 11-of-29 from the floor.
Chris Ross, who waxed hot in Game 4 with 31 markers, was not able to emulate his performance, finishing with 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting.
The Katropa shot 49 percent from the field, hitting 39 of their 80 tries. TNT maximized their run-and-gun schemes, scoring 15 points off the break.
They also capitalized on SMB’s 17 turnovers, converting it to 27 points and had more second chance points, 13-10. However, they lost the battle on the boards, 50-43.
Despite the 3-2 lead, Racela still remains wary, since the Beermen have been identified as a team that knows how to come back from playoff deficits.
“San Miguel was able to get back from 0-3. That’s something that I’ve learned in life that we cannot be complacent, we cannot be overconfident.”
The Scores:
TNT (101) – Castro 18, Williams 18, De Ocampo 18, Pogoy 11, Reyes 9, Rosales 8, Fonacier 7, Seigle 4, Carey 2, Tautuaa 2, Rosario 2, Rosser 0, Golla 0, Sumalinog 0.
San Miguel (94) – Santos 18, Cabagnot 17, Lassiter 16, Ross 15, Fajardo 13, Espinas 9, Reyes 4, Garcia 2, Agovida 0, Tubid 0.
Quarterscores: 24-32, 50-40, 73-69, 101-94.
