Game Today (Smart Araneta Coliseum) 7 p.m. – TNT Katropa vs Meralco
Despite drawing first blood, TNT Katropa Coach Jong Uichico remains wary of what Meralco can do when the two teams collide anew in Game 2 of their race-to-three semifinal showdown tonight in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Uichico made special mention of Bolts import Allen Durham, who banged in 26 points and grabbed 21 rebounds to cement his place as a leading contender for the Best Import award.
Meralco import Allen Durham needs to maintain his power game and hopes his teammates step up to the plate when the Bolts try to equalize against TNT Katropa today in their best-of-five semifinal showdown in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. (Rio Deluvio)
That’s why Uichico said that their 113-95 win on Tuesday will amount to nothing if they can’t sustain their form.
But for them to achieve their goal – winning the series – they have to do something good defensively to stop Durham.
The game was hotly-contested and it only began to appear that TNT would emerge victorious during the third quarter when the Texters started to make their 3-point shots.
In that period, the Texters banged in seven with Larry Fonacier and Asian import Michael Madanley combining for five triples.
Despite their impressive outside shooting the last time, Uichico insists that it is still too early to count Meralco out.
“We’ll go back to the drawing board,” said Uichico, who handled most of the players over at Meralco since he served as team consultant for a few of years before he moved to TNT prior to last season.
“We know Meralco can come back so we can’t put our guards down. It’s just the first game… it’s a (five-game) series we haven’t accomplished anything, it’s a long way to go,” added Uichico.
With Fonacier and Madanley at the helm, the Texters went on a tear, taking an 84-63 lead heading into the final 12 minutes.
The Bolts tried very hard to mount a rally, but the Texters were simply unstoppable, making one big play after another to the delight of their supporters.
Madanley scored 22 points off the bench to lead TNT, while import Mychal Ammons finished with double-double 15 points and 11 rebounds.
The sudden explosion of Fonacier and Madanley came at the most opportune time as Jayson Castro fell victim to Meralco’s pesky defense.
Castro’s 14 points was a far cry from his previous showing where he banged in 42 points.
Aside from Fonacier, the other local player who rose to the occasion was forward Troy Rosario who buried four triples on the way to finishing with 16 points.
“That’s our pace to play,” said Madanley. “In the second half, we put more energy, attacked the rim, and play defense. We have to keep improving every day. We can’t relax and think that we’re champions.”
As for Meralco, which is playing in its second straight semifinal series, veteran coach Norman Black said they have to double their effort in defending the shooters of TNT, a team he helped win the 2013 Philippine Cup.
“We had a difficult time stopping their penetration,” said Black.
“We had a difficult time stopping their three-point shooting, you try to pick your poison on what are you going to defend… but when TNT is playing like that, it’s really difficult. It’s just you don’t want to do a scoring game with TNT because they can outscore every team in the league.”
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