Defense, defense, defense. That’s the key to winning for the Titan Ultra Giant Risers.
Titan Ultra coach Rensy Bajar emphasized as much in the aftermath of the Giant Risers’ 132-128 victory over the Macau Giant Pandas on Tuesday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium. It is their second win in the PBA Governors’ Cup against five losses—the same slate as Macau.
“Kelangan lang talaga namin is ‘yung defense, constant defense, ‘yung transition defense and rebounding. Dun kami natatalo lagi… Defense pa rin,” Bajar told reporters after the game.
True enough, Titan Ultra gave up 125.6 points per game in their five losses this conference—including 136.7 in their last three defeats to the San Miguel Beermen (143 points), Macau (132), and NLEX Road Warriors (135). So, keeping the Giant Pandas to 128 on Tuesday was a small win of sorts—and it was good enough to hand the Giant Risers their second win of the conference.
Titan Ultra Shuts Down Jenning Leung
Of course, giving up 128 points doesn’t exactly scream good defense in the strictest sense. But the Giant Risers did enough on that end, especially in terms of shutting down the one player who had torched them in two previous games: Jenning Leung.
Last conference, Leung erupted for his PBA‑high 32 points in Macau’s 119-107 victory—their first after opening the Commissioner’s Cup with seven straight losses. Then, in the first round of this Governors’ Cup, Leung fired 22 more in leading the Giant Pandas to a 132-126 triumph over the Giant Risers for their first win of the ongoing tournament.
So, coming into the rematch, Bajar made sure Leung was a marked man.
“Totally i‑close out talaga namin siya. I‑box‑and‑one namin,” Bajar said of his team’s defense on Leung. “In our previous games siya ‘yung pumutok, siya ‘yung big difference. Like last conference, he was the Best Player of the Game. Last game namin he had 22 points. Ngayon buti na‑control namin and na‑minimize namin production niya.”
Titan Ultra didn’t just minimize Leung’s production—they took him out of the game completely, holding him to just 7 points in 40 uneventful minutes.
That’s some good defense, if anything. Now, Bajar is hoping the Giant Risers can play more of that in their coming games.
