After winless get started, Tropang 5G regain Grand Slam chase foothold with large win over Beermen

Calvin Oftana (3rd from left) shouldered a large number of the interior tasks of TNT. —PBA IMAGES

TNT got here into the convention with a unique moniker. Riding a winless get started in 3 video games, that wasn’t the one exchange the staff had to make.

The Grand Slam-seeking staff’s long-awaited access into the win column of the PBA Philippine Cup after a dreaded 0-3 get started got here after a realization that it could’t play how it did when Rondae Hollis-Jefferson anchored the franchise to the final two titles and Jayson Castro equipped management and balance.

“We can’t go back to the old TNT game, because this is a vastly different team without Jayson and Rondae,” said trainer Chot Reyes after the Tropang 5G’s 89-84 victory over the San Miguel Beermen on Sunday at Ynares Center in Antipolo City.

With Calvin Oftana striking up his first occupation 20-20 sport and Simon Enciso haunting his former staff by way of making a few large performs down the stretch, TNT’s nightmarish opening act within the all-Filipino event after all ended and equipped some ray of hope for a staff that’s searching for a triple crown.

The Tropang 5G started that chase by way of shedding their first two assignments to the NLEX Road Warriors and Converge FiberXers; that used to be comprehensible for the reason that they had been slightly a month got rid of from profitable the Commissioner’s Cup crown.

But a brutal 14-point defeat by the hands of Phoenix in Montalban, Rizal, the place TNT fell by way of a prime of 27, used to be regarded as inexcusable, prompting the staff to take what Reyes described as a “brutal reflection.”

“We have to play our game with who we have. I think that simple realization worked wonders with the way the players played, with their effort and with their fight,” Reyes endured.

“I just told the players that, ‘Let’s write our own story.’ Let’s not write a story from the past or whatever. And hopefully this is the first step and the first chapter in our story.”

Oftana used to be amongst those that heeded that, generating 23 issues and 21 rebounds to offset TNT’s peak drawback in opposition to San Miguel and its report MVP winner, June Mar Fajardo.

“Coach Chot told us to just show up,” mentioned Oftana. “That was the thing that we lacked in the past three games. There’s no more Rondae who can get the rebound, who can block those shots. Having said that, we put emphasis on me and Roger [Pogoy] helping on the boards because the more we get those rebounds, the more we can control the game.”

Talks with Mikey

And then there’s Enciso, who adopted up an air ball with a nook 3 that put the Tropang 5G forward, 86-80, with not up to a minute left within the sport. After making the shot, Enciso flashed his trademark arrow gesture towards the Beermen, with whom he received two championships throughout his stint from 2021 to 2025.

“Nah, I think I was just getting the emotions of the game getting into me,” Enciso mentioned. “I was a little bit too excited, and so when I shot those two air balls, I just kept telling myself, I was like, ‘I’m gonna make a big shot, I’m gonna make a big shot.’”

He additionally accounted for the lend a hand that enabled Pogoy to transform a nook trey with 13 seconds left to place TNT irreversibly forward, 89-82, just about.

TNT’s victory got here amid the resurfacing of talks between the staff and Mikey Williams.

But Reyes insisted that there’s little likelihood of Williams and TNT after all coming to phrases this convention.

“Is that a good step? I think so. At least the communication lines are open,” mentioned Reyes. “But like I said, we’re not banking on it.” INQ