TNT built a lead big enough to hold off Ginebra and its furious fourth-quarter fightback en route to a 101-94 victory to even things out in the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup Finals, Friday night at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The defending champions raced to a big lead early behind a more deliberate attack. They even led by as many as 21, but fell victim to the Kings’ trademark NSD rally as their rivals cut the gap to as close as four with 55.6 seconds left.
Luckily for the crew, opposing rookie John Abis missed after taking an ill-advised shot in his desire to finish the fastbreak. Momentum then fizzled out on the side of the crowd darlings as the Tropang 5G closed it out.
(C) PBA Images
Calvin Oftana gave the team more space by going perfect from the free-throw line to make it a 100-94 spread with 18.7 seconds remaining.
Misses by Justin Brownlee from the two arcs, along with Chris McCullough’s split with 11.2 ticks to spare, proved enough for TNT to escape with the narrow seven-point win for a solid bounce-back after falling short in Game 1.
“We kept reminding the players in the huddle, when we were up big, to not let their guards down because we all know the caliber of a team that Ginebra has. They will always come back,” said head coach Chot Reyes.
Oftana starred in the win with 31 points and 10 rebounds. He already had 17 in the first half as he led the strong start, eventually finishing with his season-high in scoring — and a career-best against the Ginebra franchise.
Chris McCullough, after going scoreless in the fourth the last time out, did a bit of everything. He finished with 19 points, 16 rebounds, four assists, two assists, and the same number of blocks in nearly 39 minutes of play.
Jordan Heading had 14 points and five assists, while the trio of Roger Pogoy, Rey Nambatac, and Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser added 10 apiece.
“Motivated lahat eh, from the coaches, to the staff, to the management, motivated kami na manalo para ma-tie namin ‘yung series,” Oftana said.
(C) PBA Images
Brownlee led Ginebra with 24 points and 15 rebounds, plus three assists in the loss. RJ Abarrientos dialed in 21, 14 of which he made in the second half, as the presumptive BPC helped spearhead the fourth-quarter retaliation.
The tandem, together with Abis, put together a 6-0 run that cut the gap to just 98-94 with 58.6 seconds left, although it proved to be their final stand.
Jeremiah Gray made 13 points while Isaac Go chipped in 10 as the young tandem sparked the comeback from 19 down entering the payoff period.
Game 3 is on Sunday, June 7, 7:30 PM at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, with the corporate rivals looking to take control of the race-to-4 affair.
The Scores:
TNT 101 – Oftana 31, McCullough 19, Heading 14, Pogoy 10, Ganuelas-Rosser 10, Nambatac 10, Castro 5, Williams 2, Khobuntin 0, Aurin 0.
Ginebra 94 – Brownlee 24, Abarrientos 21, Gray 13, Go 10, Thompson 8, Rosario 6, Torres 5, Abis 4, Cu 2, Holt 1, J.Aguilar 0, Pinto 0.
Quarterscores: 27-12, 48-33, 78-59, 101-94.
