It's an old league adage but Talk ‘N Text is using a "one-game-at-a-time" mind-set as its approach for its remaining games in the PBA Governors’ Cup semifinal round.
The ploy bore initial fruits when the Tropang Texters shellacked Meralco to the tune of 108-84 Wednesday (11 July 2012) to fan their hopes of at least playing off for the second finals slot at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
A sustained attack off a hot start and barely letting up for as much as two 33-point leads were what TNT used in notching the wire-to-wire win, which is a direly needed one, according to coach Chot Reyes.
"Wala kaming ibang choice, we have to win out," said Reyes following his Texters' first win in the semis and sixth in 11 games overall that tied them with Petron Blaze for fourth-running spot.
A 91-94 loss to the Llamados last Saturday put Talk ‘N Text in a must-win situation in all its remaining semis games to earn at least a playoff spot for the second finals seat and the rout over the Bolts should help boost the morale of the Texters.
Reyes was quick to point out a total nine wins, if TNT pulls it off, may not be enough to give his players a return trip to the finals.
"We're playing three very tough teams in Petron, Rain or Shine and Ginebra next," he stated. "On top of that, if we sweep out we still have to beat out somebody in playoffs."
What's left for Talk 'N Text is to plod on. "I know it's very hard, pero habang may buhay may pag-asa. We just have to keep on fighting and see how far it can take us," he said.
Petron comes next for the Tropang Texters Friday and Reyes said their crosshairs are trained on that.
"It's the most important game for us, our next game," he explained. "We're not thinking too far ahead, we're shortening our sights, because that's the only opening we can really control at this point."
It was the third semis loss for Meralco, which carried over a 4-5 slate as the lowest seed in the six-team field and immediately taken out of the race by back-to-back losses to Barangay Ginebra and Rain or Shine last Friday and Sunday, respectively.
Wednesday night's defeat came earlier than widely expected and readily took shape when the Bolts opened up the game going just 2-for-10 from the field and committing three turnovers.
That enabled Talk 'N Text to open up the game with a 20-4 lead, stretch that to 64-41 just before the first half ended and pad it even more to 33 points twice, the last at 98-65, 8:11 to go.
Ranidel de Ocampo, held to 0-for-10 field shooting and just three points in the loss to B-Meg, scattered 24 points on an 8-for-9 shooting in 21 minutes while Japeth Aguilar had 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead TNT, his best game in the last two conferences.
Kelly Williams made the blowout a special one by becoming the 35th member of the 2,000 Defensive Rebounds club.
Mario West's 21 points led Meralco, which also drew 13 points from Macmac Cardona. The Bolts' top scoring local, however, had zero points on no attempts in five first half minutes. (NC)
The ploy bore initial fruits when the Tropang Texters shellacked Meralco to the tune of 108-84 Wednesday (11 July 2012) to fan their hopes of at least playing off for the second finals slot at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
A sustained attack off a hot start and barely letting up for as much as two 33-point leads were what TNT used in notching the wire-to-wire win, which is a direly needed one, according to coach Chot Reyes.
"Wala kaming ibang choice, we have to win out," said Reyes following his Texters' first win in the semis and sixth in 11 games overall that tied them with Petron Blaze for fourth-running spot.
A 91-94 loss to the Llamados last Saturday put Talk ‘N Text in a must-win situation in all its remaining semis games to earn at least a playoff spot for the second finals seat and the rout over the Bolts should help boost the morale of the Texters.
Reyes was quick to point out a total nine wins, if TNT pulls it off, may not be enough to give his players a return trip to the finals.
"We're playing three very tough teams in Petron, Rain or Shine and Ginebra next," he stated. "On top of that, if we sweep out we still have to beat out somebody in playoffs."
What's left for Talk 'N Text is to plod on. "I know it's very hard, pero habang may buhay may pag-asa. We just have to keep on fighting and see how far it can take us," he said.
Petron comes next for the Tropang Texters Friday and Reyes said their crosshairs are trained on that.
"It's the most important game for us, our next game," he explained. "We're not thinking too far ahead, we're shortening our sights, because that's the only opening we can really control at this point."
It was the third semis loss for Meralco, which carried over a 4-5 slate as the lowest seed in the six-team field and immediately taken out of the race by back-to-back losses to Barangay Ginebra and Rain or Shine last Friday and Sunday, respectively.
Wednesday night's defeat came earlier than widely expected and readily took shape when the Bolts opened up the game going just 2-for-10 from the field and committing three turnovers.
That enabled Talk 'N Text to open up the game with a 20-4 lead, stretch that to 64-41 just before the first half ended and pad it even more to 33 points twice, the last at 98-65, 8:11 to go.
Ranidel de Ocampo, held to 0-for-10 field shooting and just three points in the loss to B-Meg, scattered 24 points on an 8-for-9 shooting in 21 minutes while Japeth Aguilar had 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead TNT, his best game in the last two conferences.
Kelly Williams made the blowout a special one by becoming the 35th member of the 2,000 Defensive Rebounds club.
Mario West's 21 points led Meralco, which also drew 13 points from Macmac Cardona. The Bolts' top scoring local, however, had zero points on no attempts in five first half minutes. (NC)
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