TNT Tropang 5G’s Chris McCullough during Game 6 of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals vs Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings. –PBA IMAGES
Similar to the way in which they did a few nights back, Justin Brownlee and Chris McCullough are expected to return out with their A-Games on Wednesday with the PBA Commissioner’s Cup title on the road and no tomorrow left for the loser.
And who among the many locals will step up or disappear for either Barangay Ginebra or TNT will likely be the largest query begging for a solution going into Game 7 of what has been a really unpredictable series at Mall of Asia (MOA) Arena.
For Ginebra, coach Tim Cone believes the offensive struggles of RJ Abarrientos and former MVP Scottie Thompson are something they should shake off in crucial battle of the conference set at 7:30 p.m.
“You’re not going to see that fairly often,” Cone said after Abarrientos and Thompson combined for less than nine points on 2-of-18 shooting in Game 6 when the Gin Kings fell short of their first crack on the crown last Sunday.
Each teams were put into this winner-take-all scenario after TNT pulled out a 98-90 victory behind 53 points from McCullough.
That win actually set the Tropang 5G as much as post a repeat of what happened last season, when TNT also got here back from 3-2 within the series to win bannered by the workhorse Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.
Justin Brownlee fired 52 for Ginebra, but that lack of support—not only from Abarrientos and Thompson, however the others as well—on the offensive side, doomed Cone’s squad.
Troy Rosario was Ginebra’s second-best scorer on Sunday night with nine points. He also had 15 rebounds. But despite that, the Gin Kings were in a very good position to shut that one out.
Liking his possibilities
Which makes Cone like his possibilities ahead of the competition that is predicted to attract a crowd greater than the 22,371 fans—if that might fit inside MOA Arena—that trooped to Smart Araneta Coliseum over the weekend.
“We’re going to be ok with ourselves going into Game 7,” Cone said. “We all know we will take this and we’re going to go for it.”
TNT had the higher local production last time, albeit just by a slight margin, with Jordan Heading and RR Pogoy, who’s Abarrientos’ counterpart as TNT’s most important contender for the PBA Press Corps Finals Most Useful Player and the Ramon Fernandez Trophy.
However the Tropang 5G are pinning their hopes that Calvin Oftana, Jayson Castro and Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser may be available for Game 7 amid their injuries.
“Like I said before, it’s going to be a battle of attrition,” said TNT coach Chot Reyes. “All we would like is to proceed to only go down and just exit and fight. Fight for every thing, fight for each possession.
“And so long as we give our greatest, whatever happens, happens,” he added.