Calvin Oftana (third from left) shouldered a whole lot of the within duties of TNT. —PBA IMAGES
TNT got here into the conference with a distinct moniker. Riding a winless start in three games, that wasn’t the one change the team needed to make.
The Grand Slam-seeking team’s long-awaited entry into the win column of the PBA Philippine Cup after a dreaded 0-3 start got here after a realization that it may possibly’t play the way in which it did when Rondae Hollis-Jefferson anchored the franchise to the last two titles and Jayson Castro provided leadership and stability.
“We are able to’t return to the old TNT game, because this can be a vastly different team without Jayson and Rondae,” acknowledged coach Chot Reyes after the Tropang 5G’s 89-84 victory over the San Miguel Beermen on Sunday at Ynares Center in Antipolo City.
With Calvin Oftana putting up his first profession 20-20 game and Simon Enciso haunting his former team by making a pair of huge plays down the stretch, TNT’s nightmarish opening act within the all-Filipino tournament finally ended and provided some ray of hope for a team that’s within the hunt for a triple crown.
The Tropang 5G began that chase by dropping their first two assignments to the NLEX Road Warriors and Converge FiberXers; that was comprehensible on condition that they were barely a month faraway from winning the Commissioner’s Cup crown.
But a brutal 14-point defeat by the hands of Phoenix in Montalban, Rizal, where TNT fell by a high of 27, was considered inexcusable, prompting the team to take what Reyes described as a “brutal reflection.”
“We’ve got to play our game with who we now have. I feel that straightforward realization worked wonders with the way in which the players played, with their effort and with their fight,” Reyes continued.
“I just told the players that, ‘Let’s write our own story.’ Let’s not write a story from the past or whatever. And hopefully this is step one and the primary chapter in our story.”
Oftana was amongst those that heeded that, producing 23 points and 21 rebounds to offset TNT’s height drawback against San Miguel and its record MVP winner, June Mar Fajardo.
“Coach Chot told us to simply show up,” said Oftana. “That was the thing that we lacked prior to now three games. There’s no more Rondae who can get the rebound, who can block those shots. Having said that, we put emphasis on me and Roger [Pogoy] helping on the boards since the more we get those rebounds, the more we will control the sport.”
Talks with Mikey
After which there’s Enciso, who followed up an air ball with a corner three that put the Tropang 5G ahead, 86-80, with lower than a minute left in the sport. After making the shot, Enciso flashed his trademark arrow gesture toward the Beermen, with whom he won two championships during his stint from 2021 to 2025.
“Nah, I feel I used to be just getting the emotions of the sport entering into me,” Enciso said. “I used to be a bit of bit too excited, and so once I shot those two air balls, I just kept telling myself, I used to be like, ‘I’m gonna make an enormous shot, I’m gonna make an enormous shot.’”
He also accounted for the assist that enabled Pogoy to convert a corner trey with 13 seconds left to place TNT irreversibly ahead, 89-82, virtually.
TNT’s victory got here amid the resurfacing of talks between the team and Mikey Williams.
But Reyes insisted that there’s little probability of Williams and TNT finally coming to terms this conference.
“Is that a very good step? I feel so. At the least the communication lines are open,” said Reyes. “But like I said, we’re not banking on it.” INQ
