By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.

 

“THERE’S always a first time in life,” as the saying goes. And that happened to TNT Tropang Giga basketball team last April 21 after their countless attempts to win the prestigious PBA’s Governors’ Cup title since entering the professional league, they finally clinched the coveted tiara in the sixth game in the best-of-seven championship series, 4-2, against their archrival the reigning defending champion the multi-titled Ginebra Gin Kings, 97-93!

It was also the first PBA title for TNT’s interim head coach Jojo Lastimosa who temporarily replaces head coach Chot Reyes who took a leave of absence to steer our national squad in the coming Southeast (SEA) Games, May 9 to 16, to be held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Remember, our 14 consecutive times gold medal domination in the biennial SEA Games hoop event?  That unexpectedly came into screeching end when the Indonesian nationals won in the gold match, 85-81, in 2021 Hanoi SEA Games despite sending our best professional cagers, as usual, like Junmar Fajardo, the Ravena brothers Kiefer and Thirdy, Matthew Wright, RR Pogoy, Kib Montalbo, to name some.

Filipino basketball partisans defined the Indonesians victory as just a ‘fluke.’ But I didn’t think so. Remember, our Philippine squad defeated the Thailand five, 73-71, by two to enter the gold medal match. I must say that our neighboring countries are now vastly improving in this James Naismith-invented sport. Hopefully our nationals will recapture our lost glory, having dominated since SEA Games was born. Yes, this is our sport.

I was not anti-Ginebra when I picked and twice fearlessly predicted here that TNT will win this year’s Governors’ Cup. In fact, I’m one of the million of fans of my age-contemporary Robert “Sonny” Jaworski who spearheaded the well-adored Toyota and Ginebra teams during his heydays. Jaworski was a cager and I was a cyclist during our glory days. I met him personally in Guam during a lunch party with the Crispa squad and also met Crispa’s  Jimmy Javier, the late six-foot-four from Binmaley. The event was hosted by the Pangasinan Community of Guam during the presidency of Dr. Rodolfo Silan of Sta. Barbara. I was then one of the members of the local association during my 11 years stint in that U.S. protectorate islands. We met a day after their last exhibition game against their arch-rival Crispa which the exhibition game called “Crispa vs. Toyota Last Hurrah” held at the Guam Fieldhouse on March 5, 1984.  Thousands of spectators I assumed were dominated by Pangasinenses, watched Crispa repulse Toyota by 16 points, 108-92.

I picked and predicted TNT to win for three big reasons. Firstly, because they never won Governors Cup diadem in the past, the only PBA’s conference while Ginebra already won it four times. Secondly, because their versatile import the former NBA player Rondae Hollis-Jefferson who did most of the damage during this conference outmatched the capability of Ginebra’s Filipino-naturalized all-around cager Justin Brownlee (except on the sixth game when Fil-Am dribbler Mikey Williams stole the show). Thirdly, TNT’S first meeting against Ginebra during the elimination round saw TNT winning by 9 points, 104-95. My sense says that TNT can do it again when they’ll meet anew. And it did.

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are beginning of sorrows. MATTHEW 24: 7-8

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