Chot on cusp of making history

TNT coach Chot Reyes has a rare chance of making PBA history this season. If the Tropang 5G wins the ongoing Philippine Cup, the team will be the sixth ever to clinch a Grand Slam in 49 seasons. As it is, Reyes is only the second coach to get a second chance at bagging a Grand Slam in the last eight seasons after San Miguel Beer’s Leo Austria who came close in 2016-17 and 2019, pointed out PBA chief statistician Fidel Mangonon.

In PBA history, there were 10 teams that won two straight conferences but lost the third in the same season, falling short of a Grand Slam. Reyes was one of only two among the 10 coaches who reached the Finals of the third conference but lost. That happened in 2010-11 when Reyes took TNT to the Philippine Cup and Commissioner’s Cup championships then bowed to Petron’s Ato Agustin in the Governors’ Cup Finals. The other coach who had a similar close call was Dante Silverio who piloted Toyota to the First and Second Conference titles then lost to Crispa’s Baby Dalupan in the Third Conference Finals in 1975.

Silverio, who collected five championships with Toyota, never bagged a Grand Slam. He was one of those 10 coaches who won two straight conferences then lost the third to wind up a jewel shy of a clean sweep. The others were Dalupan with Crispa in 1977 and Great Taste in 1985, Turo Valenzona with Tanduay in 1986, Derick Pumaren with Sunkist in 1995, Tim Cone with Alaska in 1998, Siot Tanquingcen with Barangay Ginebra in 2004-05, Reyes with TNT in 2010-11 and Austria with San Miguel in 2016-17 and 2019.

So far, only four coaches have accomplished the crowning glory of a trifecta. Dalupan was the first to earn the ultimate prize in 1976 with Crispa then Tommy Manotoc took his turn, also with Crispa, in 1983. Norman Black bagged a Grand Slam with San Miguel in 1989 and Cone did it twice in 1996 with Alaska and 2013-14 with San Mig Coffee.

This conference, TNT is off to a slow start, stumbling to a 0-2 record. But as it’s often said, it’s better to start slow than to finish slow. In the previous Commissioner’s Cup, TNT also opened at 0-2 then won six in a row and eventually, ended the elims at 8-4. TNT went on to capture the championship. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson led TNT’s title runs in the Governors’ and Commissioner’s Cups but in the Philippine Cup, Reyes will try to seal the Grand Slam with an all-Filipino cast. Reyes isn’t putting pressure on himself or the team to imagine what could be at the end of the rainbow. His concern at the moment is snapping TNT’s losing streak in its next game against Phoenix on Friday. That’s the focus for the time being.