CRUNCH TIME

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TALK N Text coach Norman Black can’t be faulted for mistakenly referring to his new import as “Tony Harris” instead of Tony Mitchell. After all and at least on his first game, Mitchell brought back memories of the prolific Swift reinforcement, who scored a still-standing-record 105 points in a single game in 1992.

“Tony Mitchell reminds me of Tony Harris. He’s such an explosive guy,” said Black, before adding: “I thought he could play a lot better.”

That could spell bad news for Barangay Ginebra, which on Friday tries to at least stay alive in its PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals duel with TNT at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

With his local teammates rallying around Mitchell’s 29-point, 12-rebound debut game the  Tropang Texters scored an emphatic 98-80 win over the Kings last Wednesday to go up, 2-1, in their best-of-five series and now have two chances to wrap it up starting Friday.

Black knows it will be tough. “We are expecting Ginebra will bring all of their energy into their game tomorrow so we have to play our best game if we want to end the series,” he said.

“I’m just expecting an all-out battle at the Big Dome with defense and rebounding still being the keys for us to move on to the next round.”

Delaying and then completely denying TNT any celebration is what indeed Ginebra intends to do.

“Kailangan i-maintain ang energy namin, lalo na sa depensa,” said Kings coach Alfrancis Chua. “If we do that, then all the rest, tulad ng opensa namin, will follow.”

That should prove to be quite a task with Mitchell.

The 6-5 showed why he was voted this season’s NBA D-League Rookie of the Year by going 11-for-23 from the field, including 10-for-18 from inside the arc, despite foul trouble that limited him to just 33 minutes of action.

Such a performance validated TNT’s decision to play him earlier than what he was really intended for, which is the season-ending Governors Cup for imports no higher than 6-5.

According to Black himself, there’s little left to be desired from Mitchell’s game, particularly adjusting to the referees’ calls.  “He has to find out what he can do and what he can’t do, but once he does that he’s gonna be a very good player for us this conference and the next,” he stated.

There’s also the matter of Mitchell achieving more chemistry with the locals and vice versa. “Blending Tony Mitchell into our offense and defense will still be our challenge,” said Black.

There’s little tinkering to be done there. Larry Fonacier scored 20 points off the bench while Jayson Castro and Ranidel de Ocampo combined for 30 points and eight rebounds, helping TNT win the battle off the boards, 65-46.

Vernon Macklin notched 17 points and 16 rebounds and Kerby Raymundo also had 17 points, but Ginebra completely unraveled  in the second half to absorb a second straight loss in the series following a 79-85 defeat in Game 2.

Jimmy Alapag’s strained calf muscle is expected to keep him sidelined another game while Mark Caguioa could finally see action, depending on the results of the final rehab session earlier in the day on his injured left knee.

Yet it is on how to stymie Mitchell, which remains the nagging question for Ginebra and the likes of Chris Ellis, Elmer Espiritu, Jayjay Helterbrand Willy Wilson could provide the answer. (NC)

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