MANILA, Philippines — Mikey Williams and the TNT Tropang Giga scorched the Magnolia Chicken Timplados Hotshots en route to a 108-96 demolition in Game One of their PBA Philippine Cup semifinals series at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday.
Armed with fresher legs to begin their best-of-seven series, the defending champions raced to a 12-3 start in the early goings of the ball game and never trailed since.
A 26-point explosion by Williams paced TNT to the dominant showing where they led by as much as 24 points in a rematch of last year's Philippine Cup Finals.
RR Pogoy added 23 markers while Glen Khobuntin and Jayson Castro combined for 30 points off the bench to round up the bulk of TNT's scoring.
As multiple weapons sizzled for TNT, it was the stark opposite for the Hotshots, who are reeling from a three-game series against the NLEX Road Warriors in the quarterfinals.
Mark Barroca and Paul Lee were both limited to single-digit scoring as they posted seven and nine points, respectively.
Calvin Abueva became the go-to scorer with 18 markers.
TNT will gun for a 2-0 lead while Magnolia will seel to tie the series on Friday, August 5, at the same venue.