Tropang Giga reestablish defensive identity

MANILA, Philippines -- The TNT Tropang Giga has always been known to be a high-octane, offensive team in the PBA.

But now, the squad is focusing more on their defensive game.

In the four games the defending PBA Governors’ Cup champions have played, they kept all opponents under 100 points.

The highest output thus far is the 96 points they allowed against the Converge FiberXers, which ended in a loss, 95-96.

And on Thursday, the squad tallied its third victory with an 88-82 win over the defensive-minded Magnolia Hotshots.

After the game, TNT head coach Chot Reyes said that during the offseason, they focused on stopping their opponents.

“In our very practice in the preseason, my very first words were, we have to shift our identity to a defensive one. Coming from our lessons from the last conference where we had very good offense but we couldn’t stop anyone, we had to recover and rediscover our defensive identity,” Reyes told reporters.

“We worked really hard on our defense in the offseason, so I said adjust, from a point of focus, let’s reestablish our defensive identity,” he added.

The same defensive identity also resulted in Thursday’s win, Reyes said, as they held Magnolia to a conference-low in points. Prior to Thursday’s game, the Hotshots are averaging 99.5 points in two games.

“I think the reason why we won is not really our 3-point shooting. It was really our defense. We scored below 90, that’s not a really good offensive night, but I thought because we limited them to only 82 points, that allowed our 88 to be enough for the victory,” he said.

TNT actually made 31-of-84 from the field, good for 36.9%. Magnolia shot 32-of-77 and had a 41.6% shooting clip.

The Tropang Giga, though, made 14 of their 34 3-pointers, eight more than Magnolia’s 6-of-15.

They also forced 18 turnovers, as they tallied eight steals and four blocks.

“So the defense was really the key factor.”

Having an import like Rondae Hollis-Jefferson is also a “big plus,” given that the 6-foot-6 ace is an “excellent defender.”

Subbing in Jayson Castro in the final minutes also helped because he was able to clamp down Mark Barroca.

TNT is now on top of Group A play with a 3-1 win-loss record. They will try to continue their strong play when they face the Terrafirma Dyip next Thursday.