The TNT Tropang 5G charged ahead in their PBA Philippine Cup Finals rematch with the San Miguel Beermen with a scintillating 96-91 win on Wednesday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo. But, while happy with the victory, Chot Reyes rued his team’s 19 turnovers, which is obviously one too many for Reyes’s exacting standards.
“In the huddle, I said, you know, we defend well. They’re not scoring on the half-court set. They’re just scoring off our turnovers. We keep giving the ball to the other team,” Reyes pointed out after Game 1. “We said every time we make a defensive stop, we need to make sure that we get a shot. Whether we make it or miss, it doesn’t matter, as long as you don’t turn it over.”
But the Tropa kept turning it over, even in the end game. In fact, two late-game turnovers—a dribbling error from Calvin Oftana and an errant pass by Rey Nambatac—nearly cost them Game 1, as those two miscues helped San Miguel threaten to within 92-91 with 20 seconds remaining.
Back to the Drawing Board for TNT
Needless to say, protecting possessions will be a point of emphasis for TNT for Game 2 and for the rest of these PBA Finals.
“We gave 25 turnover points to San Miguel, and that’s something that we definitely need to address. We had 19 turnovers, and that’s why we gave them 25 turnover points,” Reyes said. “Obviously, I’m happy with the win, but there’s so much more for us to improve on, and we have one day to correct our mistakes.”
Those mistakes, according to Reyes, were mostly due to his players rushing too much.
“Our offense down the stretch, our offense was flawless. Our defense was great. It was just our turnovers. And those turnovers were not coming from set plays. It was just coming from rushing too much and getting ourselves into bad positions,” said Reyes, who noted that the Tropa will be working on that problem in practice to hopefully be better for Game 2.
Game 2 between San Miguel and TNT will be on Friday, also at the Ynares Center in Antipolo. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m.
