TNT built a lead big enough to ward off Ginebra’s 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 and 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 took an ill-advised shot in his desire to finish the fastbreak and missed, and momentum would fizzle out on the side of the crowd darlings as the Tropang 5G went on to close it out.
Calvin Oftana would give themselves 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 deep, coupled by Chris McCullough’s split with 11.2 ticks left, proved to be enough for TNT to escape with the seven-point win–and to tie the best-of-7 series at one game apiece.
