Lastimosa rues TNT's flat start in EASL loss to Chiba

SANTA ROSA, Laguna -- The TNT Tropang Giga's sluggish start against the Japanese team Chiba Jets in their East Asia Super League (EASL) game was “surprising,” especially with the fact that the team played on home turf, head coach Jojo Lastimosa said.

Chiba's wire-to-wire win in the 2023-24 EASL season started with seven straight points right from the get-go.

While the team was able to find their bearings almost immediately, they ended the first quarter down by nine already, 11-20, as big man John Mooney continued to carve the interior.

The lead grew to as much as 20 points, 50-30, in the second quarter off a tip-in by Mooney.

While TNT gave the visitors a scare after cutting the lead to five, 53-58, in the third quarter, they ran out of gas late.

In an interview after the game, Lastimosa said the team “lost the game in the beginning.”

“I think it’s kinda surprising to see that for us being here, as the home team, sleeping in our own beds and not having that kind of energy in the beginning of the game, I think that was the difference,” he said.

The coach bared that the team played the exact opposite of the game they played when they first faced Chiba in Japan last month.

Back then, they went toe-to-toe with the team in the first half but failed to find their marks in the second half.

“We had two contrasting games that we played against Chiba. The first one in Japan where we competed and then we lost in the second half and now it’s the complete opposite. We started badly and the second half was so much better with a lot of energy, we took care of the ball and that was the difference, we got close because of that,” he said.

“Two contrasting defense and the same way it ended, we lost the game.”

TNT is now 0-2 in the Group A of the tournament.

Chiba, meanwhile, is undefeated in three games.

“Like last game, we messed up in the second half, and this game, it was the first half, so I think it’s something we gotta get together and fix, we got to play two halves. But overall, we did better for sure,” Lastimosa said.