By Olmin Leyba
RECHARGED after a relatively long five-day breather in the PBA Governors’ Cup, TnT guns for a safe passage to the quarterfinals today against also-ran Terrafirma in the penultimate day of eliminations at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Despite early struggles and a lung-busting schedule due to Gilas Pilipinas duties, the Tropang Giga (5-4) have put themselves in good position to not just advance to the next round but also to vie for the coveted playoffs incentives.
The reigning Philippine Cup champs can bring this drive for one of the top four slots to completion with victories over the Dyip (2-8) and their final elims opponent, resurgent NorthPort (5-5), on Friday.
Coach Chot Reyes and his streaking charges, however, aren’t looking past the 3 p.m. encounter with the Dyip, are out of it all but remain motivated to end their campaign with a bang.
“We’re not thinking of that (chance for a twice-to-beat). Our entire focus now is preparing for our game tomorrow (today),” said Mr. Reyes.
The Tropang Giga amped up their playoffs bid with back-to-back conquests of San Miguel Beer (96-81) and Barangay Ginebra (119-92) to cap a draining four-game slate prior to Gilas’ stint in the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers in late February.
TnT resumed its PBA campaign last March 4 and made it three in a row at the expense of Blackwater (106-93).
Mr. Reyes noted that the Tropang Giga didn’t play “a full 48-minute game at the level we wanted” in their return match. And they need to get this done against a Terrafirma side that has shown it is capable of upsetting the favorites, if only it could muster the needed finishing kick.
Terrafirma Dyip mentor John Cardel, whose wards held sizable leads against Alaska, Ginebra and NorthPort before fading in the end.
Meanwhile, top meets bottom as Magnolia (9-1) and Blackwater (0-10) face off at 6 p.m. in a game that may be inconsequential to their standings but has everything to do with pride.
Aside from building momentum for the Last-8, the No. 1-seeded Hotshots want to avoid the ignominy of being the team the Bossing beat to end their league-worst 29-game losing streak.