Bolts 95, TnT 103

Chris McCullough lived up his promise of a better performance by scoring 42 points in lifting TNT to a 103-95 win and a 3-2 lead in their PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals series last 29 May at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The points were 18 more than what McCullough produced in his first game back and he highlighted it all up with four straight baskets – off back-to-back triples, a spin move and a jumper – in a stirring one-man show that gave the Tropang 5G a 98-91 lead.

Jordan Heading then took TNT home with five straight points that made it a 103-93 count and gave the team the chance to close out the best-of-seven series with another win Sunday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.

Undeniably, said opportunity was largely made possible by McCullough, who vowed after his first game back, a 90-101 loss in Game 4 last Wednesday when he shot just 7-of-22 from the field, that: "Once I get going, it will be scary."

"Yeah, I said that," admitted McCullough, who went 16-of-28 from the floor this time while adding 11 rebounds.

"I just needed to get my legs under me. I had two weeks off from playing basketball so I’m just happy to be back, happy to be playing."

TNT coach Chot Reyes said another key factor is his players limiting their turnovers, unlike in Game 4 when they committed 15 miscues which the Bolts fully exploited.

"Coming into this game our gameplan was to get good shots because the last game we had so many turnovers, we gave up 26 points off turnovers," related Reyes.

"So, you cannot defend a turnover, that’s very hard. For us, to help our defense we had to get good shots. That means we’re getting shots, we’re not turning the ball over. We did not make everything, but the key was, if we were able to get good shots we’d prevent Meralco from running the fastbreak where they’re very deadly."

Aside from just 11 turnovers this time around, the Tropa did shoot the ball better with a 35-of-72 clip while displaying better ball movement for a series-high 23 assists that also helped take them past the century mark for the first time in the duel.

Patrick Gardner also did a little better in his second game for Meralco by finishing with 25 points and 12 rebounds. But he got into foul trouble anew and even had to sit out a five-minute stretch in the fourth period after committing his fourth and fifth fouls just seconds apart.

Behind Cliff Hodge, the Bolts tried to hang on and kept within 85-88 before McCullough’s explosion pulled the game truly beyond reach.