Red-hot TNT goes for 3-0 lead this Friday

Game Friday (Araneta Coliseum)
7 p.m. — SMB vs TNT (Game 3)

MANILA, Philippines — The Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters, well-programmed and precise, are about to push the clueless San Miguel Beermen on the brink of a dark and desolate hole in the PBA Philippine Cup Finals.

And unless San Miguel wakes up in time, the plummet into a 0-3 deficit in the best-of-7 championship series would be a fall from grace like no other. No team has ever come back from such a harrowing depth and lived to tell the tale, and the way the Beermen had been playing, they’d be fortunate to even level at 2-2.

Ato Agustin, the Beermen coach, vowed things will be different in Game Three at 7 p.m. this Friday at the Araneta Coliseum after the Texters took a 2-0 lead Wednesday, beating SMB, 110-102, at the Cuneta Astrodome behind the 9-for-10 shooting of Jared Dillinger.


San Miguel's Arwind Santos fights Ali Peek of Talk 'N Text for possession as teammate Danny Ildefonso looks on during Game 1 of the PBA Finals last Friday at the Astrodome in Pasay City. The Texters won, 110-102. (Photo by ALI VICOY)

“We will definitely be more physical on Friday; play real hard defese,” said Agustin, who had promised after a 91-82 opening loss in Victorias City, Negros Occidental last Saturday that things will be different in Game Two.

Nothing much was different though for the Beermen in the first two games in the series where they zeroed in on the wrong men and paid the price both times.

Defensively obsessed with Jimmy Alapag in Game One, the Texters’ ace playmaker, SMB fell in disarray after Coach Chot Reyes unleashed Jason Castro, who ran roughshod over the Beermen’s effort to contain him as well, scoring 16 points (6-of-9 from the floor) to go with 2 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals in 27 minutes coming off the bench.

Dillinger then slipped under the dragnet and was Public Enemy No. 1 next for SMB after the Beermen staked out both Alapag and Castro. And like his US Depression-era namesake, JD was untouchable as a starting forward, robbing the Beermen of their hearts in draining 2 triples and going 7 of 8 from within, with 5 rebounds and a blocked shot.

"He's a forgotten figure," Reyes said of Dillinger.

“Obviously, it’s not a good place to be,” said SMB’s Jay Washington, who led the Beermen with 20 points. “It’s not the way we want to start the series.”

The outspoken Washington was blunt in pinpointing what was wrong with his team and what needed to be done.

“It’s our defense, that’s all it is,” he said. “If Talk ‘N Text plays well offensively, it fuels their defense. Most teams are the other way around, they play good defense and that fuels their offense. Not that team. If you can get stops and disrupt what they’re doing, you can break them down. But the stronger they feel on offense, the more they want to play defense.”

The 6-foot-7 forward steered away from laying the blame on the foot of the Beermen strategists.

“I can’t say it’s the game plan, but what we’re doing right now obviously isn’t working,” said Washington, who was more direct in reaching out to this teammates.

“The guys out there," he said, "they got to have heart and want to lock up their man and stay in front of them. I’m not gonna say you can stay in front of a Jimmy Alapag or a Jason Castro every time, but there’s got to be more effort to stop them. Man, seventy-five percent of their shots were layups or right under the basket.”

Talk 'N Text had 10 more attempts from inside the painted area, and had at least eight more points from layups or tip-ins, significant numbers since Arwind Santos went 3-for-5 from 3-point range, Dondon Hontveros 2 for 7, Paul Artadi 0-for-5 in 2-pointers, and Danny Seigle 5-for-13 overall.

Alapag and Casto halved 30 points, and a third TNT player, Ranidel de Ocampo, cold in Game One, added 15, with 7 rebounds and 4 assists, despite sitting out three minutes after being assessed a flagrant one foul.

Alex Cabagnot had 10 of his 18 in the fourth quarter, but Dillinger had 11 points as TNT outscored SMB in each of the last three periods.

The Texters will be without guard Ryan Reyes, who sprinted to a waiting car right after the game and was whisked to the airport with motorcycle escorts to make it to the flight to Los Angeles for the burial of his younger brother who died in a vehicular accident before Game One.

“It was a total team effort,” said Reyes. “But we’re still a long way off. Our whole focus will be on Game Three.”
source: mb.com.ph