by Dave Albarado
Will TNT go all the way to the championship?
Will the TNT Tropang Giga finally end its title drought and finally bag an All-Filipino crown? For many years, TNT lorded over the All-Filipino led by coach Chot Reyes. After Reyes left, TNT struggled and was unable to bag any crown.
Now that Reyes returned to TNT, the hopes are high for the team to win the plum this year.
While the team is already up 2-1 over the mighty San Miguel Beermen, TNT is riding on a 12-2 win-loss slate in this conference. All 2 losses came in the hands of the Beermen. The reality is that the dribble drive system is doing wonders for TNT because of 2 players, Jayson Castro and Mikey Williams. The two are explosive shot creators and penetrators. They are perfect for the system of Reyes who is known to be a believer of the dribble drive system.
The thing is that even TNT is up in the semifinal series, the Beermen have the tools and manpower to erase a 2-1 deficit. Remember that the Beermen are the only team in the world that won a title after being down 0-3, which is now known as the Beeracle.
Magnolia on the other hand is looking good considering that Meralco is having injury problems. Magnolia will have an upper hand with its deadly duo of Calvin Abueva and Paul Lee. The lethal combination of the Beast and the Lee-thal Weapon is the one that will catapult the Magnolia team to greatness even it has no real solid frontline outside of Rafi Reavis and Ian Sanggalang.
Today’s match up for game 4 will be the deciding game, determining who gets the upper hand and who puts pressure to the loser.
TNT can move a game away from reaching the finals while Magnolia can also cement its stature as an emerging power in PBA basketball.