TALK N TEXT IN FINALS
TALK N Text is three wins away from a perfect conference.
The Tropang Texters paved the way to that cherished goal by beating a gallant but severely undermanned Rain or Shine crew, 99-91, Friday to book the first Finals seat in the PLDT Home TVolution PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The victory enabled TNT to complete a three-game sweep of the best-of-five semifinals duel and it now awaits the winner of the other semis pairing between San Mig Super Coffee and Air21 for the championship tussle, another race-to-three affair.
Richard Howell wound up with 26 points, double his average the first two games, and added 19 rebounds. But it was the locals, led by Ryan Reyes and Ranidel de Ocampo, who were mainly responsible for the victory.
“It was an extremely hard-fought game. Both teams played very well,” said Texters coach Norman Black, who is making his 16th Finals appearance after his crew matched the franchise-best 13 straight wins.
“Three more to go,” added Black, referring to the mid-season tourney’s last dance. “That’s the goal right now, to win the championship.”
Despite his doctor’s orders for him to rest his strained medial collateral ligament, Rain or Shine import Wayne Chism saw action and finished with 31 points and 14 boards after not getting his usual support.
“I would like to give Chism a lot of credit for playing tonight despite the injury. He helped make them stay competitive,” noted Black.
Indeed, Rain or Shine lived up to coach Yeng Guiao’s promise of one big fight, whittling what stood as a 62-79 third quarter deficit to just six points twice. Each time, however, TNT had an answer, helped along by the E-Painters’ manpower woes.
Already missing the services of Chris Tiu and Jervy Cruz, both out with the same MCL injury as Chism, Paul Lee and Ryan Arana were also suffering from sore knees. Arana saw action for 20 minutes and Lee for just six as both went scoreless.
Jeff Chan wound up with 11 points but missed all his seven attempts from three-point land as the entire Elasto Painters crew went 2-for-23 from beyond the arc.
In direct contrast was TNT, which boomed in half of its 28 three-point tries.
“We are the top three-point shooting team. We rely on that,” pointed out Black after De Ocampo, Larry Fonacier, Jayson Castro and KG Canaleta each drained a trey.
Leading them all was Reyes, who went 5-for-7 from beyond the arc with his last two triples lifting the Texters out of a tight 89-83 count and into a 97-85 advantage that was exactly the kind of a cushion the team needed heading into the final 3:04 of play.
Rain or Shine still had one fight left on it Chism’s free throws and putback sandwiching a Chan twinner put the E-Painters within six.
But whatever hopes Rain or Shine may have had were completely quashed when Kelly Williams got a a jumper to trickle in and Chism missed a triple try inside the last minute.
De Ocampo notched 15 points like Reyes, with his last seven points coming in the fourth period that helped keep TNT’s head above water in the face of a Rain or Shine surge led by the unlikely backcourt duo of TY Tang and Jonathan Uyloan.
Earlier, Kelly Williams and De Ocampo each beat the buzzer at the end of the first two quarters that propped TNT’s surge to as much as a 40-24 spread and a 10-point halftime lead.
The spirit of lesser foess would have been broken right there but not the E-Painters as Gabe Norwood and Chism spearheaded a prolonged attack that also had Larry Rodriguez and Raymond Almazan backstopping their comeback. (NC)
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