Talk ‘N Text ready anew for the Grand Slam

Al S. Mendoza

TALK ‘N Text is still euphoric over its recent PBA Philippine Cup victory.

Well, we can’t blame the Tropang Texters.

They did it in style, bamboozling the Powerade Tigers, 4-1, in the best of seven series.

They were actually gunning for a sweep.

But Powerade came extra prepared in Game 4 and eked out a 100-97 victory to cut TNT’s series lead to 3-1.

When Talk ‘N Text compiles a score of below 100 points in a game, it usually loses.

But in Game 5, there was no denying TNT.  Easily in this game, TNT surpassed the 100-point mark early.

It opened up with all guns ablaze, so to speak, zooming immediately to 20-point margins.

TNT never gave Powerade an inch to even come dangerously close.

All the way through almost, Powerade was outplayed, outhustled, outshot.

Ryan Reyes typified TNT’s determination when he stole 10 times – a record in a Finals game.  He even topscored for TNT with 20 points.

But if Powerade was thoroughly crushed, that was expected.

What wasn’t really expected was Powerade stealing one win.

At the outset, TNT’s personnel superiority was very glaring.

Possessed with a line-up that is as deep in talent as the US Dream Team to the 1992 Barcelona basketball Olympics, TNT is so powerhouse its second stringers are as good as its first five.

Thus, in every quarter in Game 5, TNT’s players are almost as fresh as daisies as coach Chot Reyes never had a problem in rotation and in the shuffling of his men.

In contrast, Powerade had only its starting five to lean on.

When coach Bo Perasol needed to replace a fagged out starter, he’d scrounge for material in a bench as shallow as the brain of a cockroach.

Usually, Perasol would soak his stars for as long as 30 minutes in a 48-minute game.

That’s the reason Tiger Gary David averaged 30-plus a game in the just-ended Finals.  He plays nearly the entire game, with only short breathers given him.

Once the second starters are in harness, Powerade’s offense suffers terribly.

With TNT’s victory, it duplicated Great Taste’s back-to-back All-Filipino victory 27 years ago.

It’s that long, stressing the fact that the most difficult to defend in the PBA is the All-Filipino crown.

But most importantly, TNT’s triumph augurs well for the Tropang Texters’ dream of gunning for the Grand Slam again.

It was almost there in 2011, until Petron deflected TNT in the third and final conference of the season.

I think TNT is again in a position to aim for it, considering that, on paper, it has the toughest lineup in the league.

It’s an altogether different matter, though, when one is already on the brink of completing the Grand Slam.

The dream is as elusive as searching the truth in the Corona impeachment trial.

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