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Joaquin Henson - The Philippine Star
April 1, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — TNT coach Chot Reyes isn’t getting ahead of himself or the team. While a Grand Slam looms as a real possibility with two jewels in the bag and one more to clinch, Reyes said the goal isn’t to go for it. The idea is to focus on every game in the Philippine Cup which starts Friday and if the journey leads to a Grand Slam, only then will TNT celebrate the feat.
At the moment, Reyes and the troops are taking a break. Team manager Jojo Lastimosa said the Tropa will regroup for light workouts on April 10 then go to camp in Laguna on April 14-18.
Reyes said fatigue was a huge factor in Game 7 that went to OT in the recent Commissioner’s Cup Finals. “Roger (Pogoy), RHJ (Rondae Hollis-Jefferson) and Rey (Nambatac) were all suffering from cramps, that’s why we weren’t fouling because I wasn’t sure we could get the ball inbounds with our three top receivers incapacitated,” he said.
Reyes said with Scottie Thompson and RJ Abarrientos under defensive pressure, the task of creating for Ginebra fell on Justin Brownlee. “Scottie and RJ were trying to initiate but we defended them well so it resulted in JB trying to create,” Reyes noted. There was a rough patch where Poy Erram was called for a flagrant 1 and Glenn Khobuntin for a flop in Game 7 but Reyes said he told the players to stay focused. “I conditioned their minds from the start that we’ll get tough calls but we should play through it,” he said. “Then constantly reminded them about it in the huddles. Our learning from Games 2 and 5 was to get guys like Glenn, Calvin (Oftana) and Rey more involved in our offense, not just relying on RHJ.”
Reyes cited three factors that led to the Game 7 win. “First, we cut down their assist-to-turnover ratio,” he said. “Second, we limited Scottie and third, we kept our composure when things got difficult.” Ginebra’s assist-to-turnover ratio in the clincher was 0.7:1 compared to an average of 1.4:1 in Games 4 and 5.
