By REYNALD MAGALLON
A soldier getting into a war without its most effective weapon.
That was exactly what TNTcoach Jojo Lastimosa was trying to picture out when they absorbed a stinging 102-90 loss to Ginebra in Game 1 of the PBA Governors’ Cup Finals opener.
Their vaunted offense – best from the elims to the playoffs – where nowhere to be found in the opener of the best-of-seven title series,
Known to be a very potent three-point shooting team, TNT just went into a brick fest and only shot 9-of-35 from beyond the arc, basically dashing all the hopes for the Tropang Giga to mount a challenge against a determined Gin Kings.
“We just couldn’t make shots. We only had nine turnovers in the game and I told the players if we can only make shots. Our team relied so much on offense, of course, the defense is going to be there in the Finals but if you can’t make shots in the finals you got no chance and they hit theirs,” Lastimosa lamented.
A large part of that cold-shooting night for TNT fell on the shoulders of RR Pogoy and Jayson Castro who combined for a meager 10 points on a 4-of-19 clip from the field.
Despite the shooting woes, it was still an encouraging signs for Lastimosa that they still managed to keep themselves within striking distance even cutting the lead down to just two, 54-52 at some point in the third frame behind the trio of Mikey Williams, Calvin Oftana and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.
“We have multiple opportunities to get back into the game and as badly as we played, Ginebra didn’t really pull away to as much as 20-plus points, they are just in 15, 12 so I think that was the positive part for us, that as badly as we played ,we are still in the game,” explained Lastimosa.
Although confident that his wards can rediscover their touches, Lastimosa hopes both Castro and Pogoy show up in Game 2 to avoid falling into a 0-2 series deficit.
“Roger, I’m confident he’ll figure it out. Even Jayson, Jayson played 31 minutes, and we missed Jayson tonight. And those guys, they’ve been there, and they know what needs to be done. And I’m hoping that we can pick it up offensively in the next game so it can be a better game for us,” said Lastimosa.
