Tropa, Kings clash in Game 5 tiebreaker

MANILA, Philippines — The PBA Commissioner’s Cup title duel between holder TNT and challenger Barangay Ginebra has lived up to the high standard the old rivals have set in three previous confrontations.

Clutch baskets, runs and counter-runs that swing momentum, no-quit mentality and big heart no matter the score, a virtual chess match between two brilliant tacticians, two sides brimming with pride and winning attitude duking it out end-to-end.

After four matches, the Tropang 5G and the Gin Kings stand on equal ground, making tonight’s Game 5 tiebreaker at the Smart Araneta Coliseum absolutely important in what’s now become a sprint finish, a race-to-two.

“As you know, in a series, the longer it gets, it now becomes a battle of attrition,” said TNT coach Chot Reyes, whose troops avoided falling to a 1-3 hole with a 106-98 equalizer Wednesday.

Learning from their previous 102-116 loss in Game 3, where Chris McCullough and RR Pogoy did the heavy lifting offense-wise, the Tropang 5G got more production from the locals led by Jordan Heading (29) and Jayson Castro (14) with Calvin Oftana firing 12 while doing defensive duties against Scottie Thompson and even RJ Abarrientos.

More so, TNT limited its turnover mark to 10 in Game 4, resulting in nine easy markers for Ginebra, after giving up a bunch last time.

“If we can hold Ginebra to below 100 and we don’t give up the turnover points, we give ourselves a chance, In Games 1 and 3, we gave up more than 20 turnover points to Ginebra and we lost both games,” noted Reyes.

The Gin Kings lost Game 4 on what’s supposed to be a celebratory moment for RJ Abarrientos and Justin Brownlee, who were named Best Player of the Conference and Best Import prior to tip-off.