MANILA, Philippines - Talk n Text rained Rain or Shine with a bucket of treys in a crucial stretch in the final half as the Tropang Texters fought back from a 10-point deficit and toppled the Elasto Painters, 91-85, in Game One of their PLDT Home TVolution PBA Commissioner’s Cup best-of-five semifinal showdown at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last night.
The Tropang Texters made six triples in the final half, four by Jimmy Alapag and Jayson Castro in a key 20-7 run in the fourth quarter that turned things around for TnT in the game marred by a bench-clearing incident at endgame.
“I think this is just the beginning after what happened at the end of the game,†said Talk n Text coach Norman Black, calling “very colorful†the incident that saw Yeng Guiao give Richard Howell a slight tap in the belly then the TnT import going after the feisty Rain or Shine coach.
“Probably, that’s the way series is going to go – intense and rugged. We have to do a good job controlling emotions and focus on playing basketball,†said Black.
“I don’t know what’s Howell’s problem is. I think he’s having a problem with his game. He’s blocked six times, and he was trying to get it on me,†said Guiao.
“He’s going through my path and I just stood my ground,†said Guiao on his spat with TnT import with the outcome of the game already settled.
“He (Howell) called me a bitch, the refs heard it and they didn’t do anything about it. It’s a profane language,†Guiao said on the next incident at resumption of play.
Meanwhile, San Mig Coffee and Air21 start their battle in the other side of the PBA explosive semis showdown – an interesting face-off between the logical hands-down pick versus the sentimental favorite.
The Mixers and the Express mix it up in Game One of their best-of-five semis duel at 8 tonight at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
San Mig Coffee is fancied to get past Air21 owing to its battle-tested roster that has been in the last seven PBA Final Fours, making the finals in four of the last six tourneys and winning the last two conferences.
Air21 (Shopinas), on the hand, has just made it past the Final Eight for the first time ever, but is out to come up with a big follow-up to its conquest of the highly touted San Miguel Beer side in their quarterfinal matchup.