Just too good.
That was what TNT KaTropa made sister team Meralco feel on Tuesday night after the Texters shook off a bum start to break away in the third quarter and win pulling away, 113-95, for a 1-0 lead in their half of the PBA Governors’ Cup semifinals at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
Dragged to a see-saw game in the first two periods by the Meralco defense, the Texters dusted off the challenge after returning from the halftime break, dropping 39 points in the third period to peel away from a 45-43 game at the half.
It was the sixth straight victory for the Texters dating back to the elimination round and certainly one which could deflate the ego of the Bolts, whose defensive plan couldn’t stand the offensive might of TNT when it mattered in the final two periods.
But coach Jong Uichico refuses to be overconfident as Game 2 will be played on Thursday night.
“It’s just the first game, and we will go back to the drawing board because we know Meralco can come back,” Uichico told reporters after getting 22 points off the bench from Asian import Michael Madanly and 15 points and 11 rebounds from Mychal Ammons.
“We can’t put our guards down. We haven’t accomplished anything yet,” he said.
Much of TNT’s sluggish start was because of Jason Castro failing to find his mark early as Meralco even led by six in the first period and engaged the Texters to several lead changes in the first half.
But the Texters came out a far better team in the third, and Castro the player that the Texters have been depending on for most of the tournament.
Castro, who scored 42 points in 27 minute sin a quarterfinal win over Alaska, scored seven and had five of his nine assists in the third, and it was practically all over but the shouting after the Texters opened up an 84-67 lead going into the fourth.
Allen Durham fired 26 points and grabbed 21 rebounds for the Bolts, who also drew twin digit scoring from Cliff Hodge and Jared Dillinger.
Meanwhile, Barangay Ginebra shoots for a 2-0 lead against defending champion San Miguel Beer on Wednesday, with the Gin Kings having all the momentum going into the 7 p.m. contest also at the historic Big Dome floor.
Ginebra will be coming off a 115-108 series-opening win as it flashed its trademark come-from-behind game that had the Kings erasing a 13-point second quarter deficit to win with conviction and belie all pre-series predictions.
The Beermen came into the series as the overwhelming picks to dominate and now find themselves trying to avoid falling into a huge hole in this best-of-five series.
But Ginebra spitfire point guard LA Tenorio believes that they hardly put a dent on the collective psyche of the Beermen, who came from 0-3 down in the Philippine Cup Finals against Alaska this season to win.
“We all know that they can mount comebacks,” the 5-foot-9 Tenorio said after the Game 1 win after going scoreless, a performance the Gin Kings hardly felt with so many others stepping up.
“I honestly think that they (Beermen) will dismiss this as just one of those losses, and that they still have all the confidence in the world going into Game 2,” Tenorio said. “We have to be able to play with the same – if not more – intensity than we did (in Game 1).”
Even Ginebra coach Tim Cone believes that Game 2 has suddenly become the biggest game for them this series.
“This (Game 1 win) is nothing. We just won one game and that doesn’t make a series,” Cone said. “Game 2 will be biggest, if not the biggest, because it (result) could more or less dictate how the rest of the series will go.”
Justin Brownlee is doing almost everything in his silent ways for the Kings, who have yet to win a title since 2008 and are trying to make a title series for the first time in three years when they lost via a sweep to Alaska in the 2013 Commissioner’s Cup Finals.
Elijah Millsap has been playing well for the Beermen, who lost focus at the height of the Ginebra run in the third quarter last Monday.

Source: Arab News