As far as TNT Tropang 5G coach Chot Reyes is concerned, the Tropa are up 1-0 in their PBA Commissioner’s Cup semis series with the Meralco Bolts because they beat the latter at their own game.
“The foundation of our game plan is to not allow Meralco to outwork us and to win the effort stats,” Reyes told reporters after TNT’s 94-89 win over Meralco in Game 1 on Wednesday. “[That means] diving on the floor for the loose ball, extra effort, deflections, setting good screens, all the little things that Meralco is very good at.”
TNT certainly did all that, and the stats bear it out. The Tropa had the same number of rebounds—42—as the Bolts, held Cliff Hodge to only 1 offensive rebound, and recorded 6 blocks, all by Bol Bol. They also had countless deflections and matched Meralco’s trademark physicality.
Jordan Heading Embodies TNT Grit
Reyes later made special mention of Jordan Heading, who broke out of a conference-long slump with a 16-point outing on 6-for-9 shooting. The veteran mentor acknowledged the lefty’s scoring but was just as impressed with Heading’s effort in other areas—notably defense.
“We’ve been very happy with the way he’s been playing defense,” Reyes said. “He’s putting in the effort there, and we always talk about that in our team. There are many ways to impact the game, not just offensively. Today he had some key defensive stops and some defensive rebounds that he’s been doing the whole conference…”
Heading more than held his own on defense. Matched mostly against Jason Brickman, the sweet-shooting Fil-Aussie largely contained the point of attack while also playing terrific positional defense. It wasn’t shutdown defense by any means, but it was enough within TNT’s grand scheme.
It turns out that was enough in Game 1—all because the entire Tropa matched the Bolts’ effort.
