Talk ‘N Text sweeps Rain or Shine, enters Finals
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Talk ‘N Text kept hitting 3-pointers throughout the game while Rain or Shine couldn’t find the mark.
Firing on all cylinders, the unbeaten Tropang Texters completed a three-game semifinals sweep of the Elasto Painters following 99-91 win for the first championship berth in the 2014 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“It was an extremely hard-fought game. I thought both teams played really well,” TNT head coach Norman Black told reporters after his team clinched its 15th finals appearance in franchise history.
“It was a good comeback for Richard Howell who had his best game of the series but once again it was the local players who really stepped up and contributed to help us get back to the finals.”
Import Richard Howell scored 26 points and pulled down 19 rebounds while Ranidel de Ocampo and Ryan Reyes tallied 15 points each for the Texters, who made 14 out of their 28 attempts from long range.
Reyes alone connected five times from long distance, making three more triples than the whole Rain or Shine team, which went just two-of-23.
“Our outside shooting has been the biggest factor throughout the conference. We’re one of the best outside shooting teams in the league and we rely on our three-point shooting a lot to win basketball games,” said Black, whose team rolled to their 13th straight win in as many games.
“It’s not something that I planned it’s just that a lot of my talent is based around outside shooting. My power forward Ranidel de Ocampo is probably the best stretch four in the league and then I have Jayson (Castro), I have Jimmy (Alapag), I have Larry (Fonacier), I have Ryan (Reyes), I have a lot of guys and KG (Canaleta) who can stretch the floor,” Black added.
Jayson Castro and Larry Fonacier, who each had 10 points, made a couple of 3-pointers and so did de Ocampo.
TNT, which will face either San Mig Coffee or Air21 in a best-of-three championship duel as early as Wednesday, led by as much as 17 points late in the third quarter before ROS pulled to with in six twice in the final 5:49 of the game.
But the Painters’ inability to make shots from downtown and the Texters’ blistering shooting were just too much to overcome.
Kelly Williams hit a free throw line jumper that sealed the game with 51.5 ticks left.
Wayne Chism played through a knee injury and scored 31 points to go along with 14 rebounds and five assists.
Paul Lee, who could’ve made all the difference for ROS, though hurt his foot in the first quarter and did not score in a brief six minutes of play.
“I’d like to give Chism a lot of credit for coming out and playing tonight despite the fact that he had a knee injury I thought he gave them a big lift and really helped them to stay competitive tonight in the basketball game,” said Black.
The Painters also got swept by the Texters in last year’s Philippine Cup Finals.
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