TNT skipper Jayson Castro tried to make light of the TNT Katropa’s 102-111 Game Five loss to the San Miguel Beermen, Friday night. After all, it was his 31st birthday.
“Happy birthday pa rin naman,” TNT’s floor general quipped, even if there was a rasp in his voice as the Katropa are facing a 2-3 series deficit.
“Ganun talaga yung basketball. May nanalo, may natatalo. Siguro kunin na lang namin yung Game Six.”
However, the mood of TNT would not have been this down had they sustained their strong second quarter push, that saw TNT lead by as much as 15 points, 61-46. As has been the norm in the series, San Miguel surged in the third quarter, scoring 36 points, helping paved the way for a San Miguel win.
The nine-year league veteran has seen this all throughout the series. And instead of focusing on the externals, the six-time PBA champion noted that it is TNT’s tendency to relax that doomed them once more.
“Yung killer instinct namin… Once na lamang kami may tendency na nag-rerelax kami,” opined Castro, who finished the game with 12 points on 4-for-13 shooting and 12 assists off the bench.
“So siguro, kagaya ng San Miguel, dapat yung killer instinct namin dapat i-work out namin kasi makakabalik at makakabalik sila,” the 5-foot-11 floor general added, as they had given up 14 second-chance points and 22 points off turnovers.
“Marami silang weapon[s] para makabalik eh. So siguro once nangyari ulit yun, dapat mas focused kami kung pano sila i-diin.”
Still, even if they are heading into Sunday in a win-or-go-home scenario, Castro believes that they still have what it takes to send the series to a winner-take-all bout.
“Nakita niyo naman na kaya naming lumamang,” Castro, who is averaging 14.8 points and 6.0 assists in the series, remarked. “Siguro hindi lang namin na-counter yung adjustment nila na si [Charles] Rhodes yung nasa five and then si Arwind [Santos] yung nasa four. And then marami uli turnover at the same time hindi namin nakita mga mismatch namin, hindi namin na maximize uli si [Joshua] Smith sa post.
“Pero marami pa kaming kaya.”
