The TNT Tropang Giga are on the board first in the PBA Governors’ Cup Finals—and they leaned on—what else?—their league-best defense to get the win over Barangay Ginebra San Miguel in Game 1 on Sunday at the Ynares Center.
And driving that tenacious defense, according to TNT coach Chot Reyes himself, is data, which identified one aspect of Ginebra’s game the Tropa had to take away: the long ball. That is exactly what TNT did, stifling the Barangay to a 2-for-21 clip from Trey and 1-for-5 from the four-point range in a masterclass of defense.
“We are a very data-driven team. We look at the numbers and we focus really on that—taking away their strengths and making sure that we lean on what our strength really is, which is our ability to stop teams, to play defense,” told reporters after Game 1. “When we got off to that good start defensively, I think that set the tone for the game. There’s no secret to our game, it’s really our defense. I thought our defense really won it for us tonight.”
Tropa Expecting Ginebra Fight Back, Not Resting on Their Laurels
That TNT defense was so unforgiving that Ginebra committed three turnovers in the first three minutes of Game 1, shot 2-for-11 in the first six minutes, and did not make a single triple in the first three quarters.
Reyes, though, knows Ginebra won’t be shooting 9% from the long ball every game, which is why the Tropa will be preparing for a better Barangay showing moving forward.
“They’re an outside shooting team, so they really rely a lot on their three-point shooting, and there are days when they’re going to be off, but that’s not going to be every day,” Reyes said. “That’s why we have to be prepared for the next game because we know hindi palaging ganyan.”
With that unforgiving defense, Ginebra had better hope that three-point shots would start falling, or TNT would take control of this series pretty soon.
TNT and Ginebra go at it again on Wednesday for Game 2, this time at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
