MANILA, Philippines — TNT playmaker Jayson Castro limped out of the Game 5 tiebreaker but his gutsy teammates got it covered.
Stepping up for their veteran guard who twisted his ankle in the third quarter, the Tropang Giga pulled off a 102-93 romp over San Miguel Beer to close in on back-to-back PBA Philippine Cup diadems last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Kelly Williams, Mikey Williams, RR Pogoy and Poy Erram resolutely took the mantle and presided over a searing closeout that propelled the squad to a pivotal 3-2 in the race-to-four finale.
The Tropang Giga, who have now won two-in-a-row since coach Chot Reyes returned from a two-game absence, can wrap it all up in tomorrow’s Game 6.
“The word that comes to my mind is courageous. I thought we fought with a lot of courage,” Reyes said after securing a followup to their 100-87 win in Game 4 and reaching the hill despite adversity.
Castro was forced out of action in the 7:29 of the third when he twisted his right ankle after landing on Marcio Lassiter’s foot upon issuing a jump pass. Though hobbling badly, “The Blur” still went to the stripe and made both charities, which tied it up at 61-61 before leaving the game. He had eight points.
From there, the rest of the guys took over.
While tasked with trying to contain SMB giant June Mar Fajardo, the 40-year-old Kelly Williams also delivered big-time on offense, banging in 21 points spiked by a 4-of-6 three-point shooting and hauling down nine rebounds.
Mikey Williams led scoring with 23 with his 12-point barrage in the third fuelling TNT to an 84-75 tear. Erram posted 17-7 while playing through a severe sprain he sustained in practice the other day while Pogoy rifled in nine of his 14 in the second half to help in the breakaway.
“Coach has been saying it all year – this team is built for adversity – and we’ve had guys in out. Of course, Jayson’s a huge part of why we’re here but we know it’s on us to fill in the shoes collectively ‘coz no one man can,” said “Machine Gun” Kelly.
“I think everyone responded tonight.”
The TNT skipper said the squad is also following the lead of Reyes, who has been receiving a lot of bashing relating to his Gilas Pilipinas duty.
“When you see our coach going through the ridicule and s__t on social media and the way he handled it, we have no excuse to look at anything and put our heads down. Yes, we’re built for situations like this,” Williams added.
Fajardo finished with 20 and 16 for SMB but was held down to four in the payoff period.