Tropa dominate kickoff

ANTIPOLO CITY, Philippines — TNT drew first and stayed on firing mode all night to beat Barangay Ginebra to a 1-0 head start in the PBA Governors’ Cup finals.

Banking on their stifling defense and torrid touch from deep, the Tropang Giga started hot and finished even hotter to blow out the Gin Kings, 104-88, and take early control of the series last night at the packed Ynares Center.

From prolific import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson to old reliables RR Pogoy, Poy Erram and Jayson Castro to first-time finalist Rey Nambatac, the defending champions drew an array of heroes in hammering out the wire-to-wire triumph witnessed by a record crowd of 11,021 fans at this venue.

Hollis-Jefferson turned in 19 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three blocks to show the way for coach Chot Reyes’ troops, who will look to go 2-0 in Game 2 on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

In a sparkling finals debut, Nambatac produced an impressive stat line of 18 points, including 12 in the fourth canto, 10 boards, seven dimes and two steals en route to Player of the Game honors.

Erram added 15 and Castro shot 14, making 12 in the third that helped TNT pull away anew to 72-62.

Reyes lauded the Tropang Giga’s efforts to shut down Ginebra to 88 markers, way off its 106.5-point average, and a meager 9.5-percent clip from rainbow territory (2-of-21), off their usual 37-percent touch prior to this.

 “We know the strength of Ginebra. We looked at the numbers and we focused really on that – taking away their strengths and really making sure we lean on our strength which is our ability to stop teams and play defense,” said coach Chot Reyes, whose crew also made 12 three-pointers against Ginebra’s lowly two.

After winning the opening tip, the titleholders quickly imposed their defensive might and buried the challengers to a 19-4 hole early on before ending the first with a 27-15 advantage.

TNT held Brownlee to two points in the first 12 minutes and the entire Gin Kings to a woeful 28.6 percent clip (6-of-21) and 0-of-7 from long-distance while shooting hot 55 percent (11-of-20) spiked by a 40-percent touch from three-point territory.

“When we got off to a good start defensively, I think that set the tone for the game and there’s no secret to our game – it’s really our defense. I think defense really won it for us,” said Reyes.