It’s all or nothing for TNT and its hopes of defending the PBA Commissioner’s Cup kingship as it locks horns with the top-seeded NLEX in the quarterfinals’ opening salvo at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium later this evening.
Game time is at 5:15 PM in the very first matchup of the playoffs’ opening round.
All the attention will be on the reigning champions, to see if they can stay alive for at least one more game in the conference.
The midseason joust has offered little promise for the Tropang 5G, who have yet to figure out how to blend Bol Bol’s style of play with the local talent and their overall system.
They failed to find rhythm during the eliminations, and things turned from bad to worse as they lost three straight games to end the round — capped by a 93-86 defeat to Barangay Ginebra just last Sunday.
That poor form has sparked questions about their ability to go back-to-back, while the Road Warriors are coming in with much to prove and a desire to maximize their win-once incentive.
But Kings head coach Tim Cone thinks otherwise, saying that their long-time rivals may have forged the ideal pairing for themselves in the quarters.
“From Coach Chot’s eyes… I don’t pretend to know what he thinks, but I think they played a good game. They wanted to play a good game. I don’t think it was a big deal that they lost,” the champion mentor commented after their bout.
“I think they probably got the matchup that they like against NLEX, and so that’s gonna be a really interesting series, I think,” he added. “Talk N Text can turn it around in a heartbeat and find themselves in the Finals easily.”
Admittedly, TNT was one of only two teams to defeat NLEX during the eliminations, with a 103-97 result on March 22 in Antipolo. This saw Bol trigger a late rally and finish with 40 points and 15 rebounds.
The Tropa have an advantage there, and are crossing their fingers that history repeats itself on the Road Warriors’ side.
Their sister team once failed to capitalize on a twice-to-beat advantage during the 2019 Governors’ Cup, where they lost twice to Christian Standhardinger and the eighth-seeded NorthPort in the quarters.
The Batang Pier went on to reach the semis, with the Fil-German forward eventually taking home BPC honors. They stole all the glory from an NLEX team that was then — and still is — looking for just its third Final Four appearance.
Years later, and the franchise, now mentored by Jong Uichico with Robert Bolick in a starring role, has a shot at exorcising the ghost of the past.
Still, the Casino Plus sportsbook sees the Road Warriors as a +5.5 underdog in the first game of the quarterfinals. The over/under is set at 198.0.
Wagers can be placed here: https://www.casinoplus.com.ph/home/inGame?name=basketball&title=SportBet.
Meanwhile, duking it out in the 7:30 PM main event are the twice-to-beat Meralco and Magnolia, in a clash between the fourth and fifth seeds.
The Bolts are focusing on advancing as quickly as possible for extra prep and recovery. But it won’t be an easy task, since they’re going up against the same team that beat them just last Sunday.
Coach Luigi Trillo and his charges were aiming to finish the eliminations with four straight wins. However, the LA Tenorio-led Hotshots caught them on a bad night, taking a 93-76 victory to gain momentum for the playoffs.
Magnolia is heading to the next phase buoyed by a three-game winning streak. And the team is keen on repeating its performance to push the series to a rubber match on Saturday.
“Alam niyo, kahit sino talaga makalaban mo sa taas, I mean, they’re in the Top Four for a reason. Basta maging ready lang kami,” offered Tenorio. “If it is Meralco, then we have to beat them three times, basically — nakaisa na kami.”
The Bolts are a -2.5 favorite, according to Casino Plus sportsbook. The game’s over/under is set at 192.0.
