Hong Kong Eastern bucks notorious Manila traffic

MANILA, Philippines -- PBA’s guest team Hong Kong Eastern had two battles to play Friday evening – and they won both of them.

Eastern, on Friday, had a game against the TNT Tropang Giga – a squad that was set to play its first game in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup – at 7:30 p.m at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.

However, before their actual basketball game, they had to go through one more hurdle – Manila traffic.

The Friday traffic congestion was so bad that the Hong Kong squad headed straight from their bus to the court, just in time for their game to start.

Still, the guest team still won against TNT, obliterating the recently crowned PBA Governors’ Cup champions, 105-84.

After the game, head coach Mensur Bajramovic said that the traffic was a “big problem.”

“We already did taping and dressing in the bus actually because we didn't predict well the time we needed. Now we know Manila very well,” he told reporters.

“We have to go [earlier]. Especially because you know the last games, this is the third game we play in a row here in this gym. It's the same distance from the hotel. The first game we came normally. We had a lot of time before. The second game, a little bit late but this game he came straight to the warm-up,” he added.

And now, the team knows to leave earlier in the next games to prevent facing the similar problem moving forward.

“So now we are sure we will change our time of leaving from the hotel to come early. It was really a big problem to be honest. If you're asking about this because straight from the bus to the court is not really good,. It was one more concern for me for this game,” the coach stressed.

“But the biggest concern was actually TNT, the team we play against. For sure, I know they won the last championship and they will start slower than usual and for sure they will get it back and be very good in the rest of the season.”

On Friday, Hong Kong broke the game wide open in the second half.

They relied on their defense to break the contest apart, allowing the Tropang Giga to make just 12 of their 34 field goal attempts in the final two quarters to have a total of 29-of-71 shooting (40.8%) from the field. For their part, they shot 37-of-74 from the floor.

Cameron Clark outdueled TNT import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson. The former finished with 36 points, 14 rebounds, three assists and a block, while the latter had 33 markers, seven boards and a dime.

Hayden Blankley finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds to go with three blocks and two assists, while the returning Glen Yang had 19 markers and eight dimes for Hong Kong.

Eastern is now holding a 2-1 win-loss record. They will next face the Blackwater Bossing on Tuesday, 5 p.m., at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.