After opening the PBA Governors’ Cup, Rensy Bajar challenged his Titan Ultra Giant Risers to play better defense.
On Wednesday, against the TNT Tropang 5G, his team obliged.
Behind strong defense and a Tirrell Brown-led offense, the Giant Risers notched their first win of the conference with a dominant 103-87 victory over the undermanned Tropa.
“Chinallenge ko ‘yung mga players number one to commit on defense because in the last three games that we played, especially on our last game against NLEX [Road Warriors], nagkaroon kami ng masamang depensa,” Bajar told reporters in his first postgame presser as a winning coach in 10 games dating back to last conference.
The difference was night and day. Against NLEX, Titan Ultra surrendered 135 points in another blowout loss. Versus TNT, the Giant Risers gave up only 87 for the breakthrough win.
Rebounding, Running Key Defensive Improvement for Titan Ultra
According to Bajar, a big reason for Titan Ultra’s improved defense was better rebounding.
In all their losses, the Giant Risers were significantly outrebounded—72-50 by NLEX, 67-53 by Converge, and 94-52 by Terrafirma. The Road Warriors (20-13) and the Dyip (40-15) also outworked Titan Ultra on the offensive glass. They were still outworked by TNT, but only by five, 42-37.
“Nagsimula ‘yun from our rebounding department, at the same time ‘yung transition defense. That’s why after our loss against NLEX… trinabaho talaga namin ‘yung number one on defense, transition defense plus the rebounding,” Bajar added.
To hammer home his point, Bajar said he had his team doing more running in the practices leading up to the game against TNT.
“Halos pinatakbo ko sila ng pinatakbo sa training, especially coming from an offensive rebound,” he said. “Talagang binibilang namin ‘yun kung ilang offensive rebound ang mabigay, ‘yun ang itatakbo ng players namin. That’s why ngayon siguro nag-commit ‘yung mga bata, nag-commit ‘yung mga players namin on our defense.”
Now holding a 1-3 record in Group A, the Titan Giant Risers have an opportunity to build momentum when they face the winless Macau Giant Pandas on July 25 at Ynares Center in Antipolo.
