MANILA, Philippines—TNT has been largely untouchable in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup, racking up a 10-1 record in the eliminations en route to the no.1 seed in the playoffs.
Despite a couple of losses against Alaska and Barangay Ginebra, the KaTropa remain dominant, ending their run to the finals with a 103-92 victory over the Gin Kings to close out the five-game semifinals 3-1.
Import Terrence Jones, though, doesn’t see his team as the favorites in the finals against the mighty San Miguel, which is gunning for a Grand Slam.
“I don’t feel like we’re the favorites,” said Jones. “I know we haven’t won in a long time so we feel we’re the underdogs, we’re going to come in excited and trying to get something special done that hasn’t happened for our organization in a long time.”
TNT was once the league’s ruling party of the decade having racked up five championships from 2011 to 2015.
San Miguel, however, changed the landscape with the arrival of head coach Leo Austria and June Mar Fajardo getting into superstar mode.
Although TNT’s last title—the 2015 Commissioner’s Cup—proceeded San Miguel’s 2014 Philippine Cup, the latter half of the decade saw the Beermen become the rulers of the league.
The Beermen won seven of the possible 13 championships from 2014 to 2019 including an unprecedented five straight Philippine Cups.
San Miguel’s success also coincided with Fajardo’s dominance with the 6-foot-10 giant winning a league-record five straight MVPs.
Nonetheless, Jones believes he and his teammates are up to the task.
“I like my team versus everybody,” said Jones. “We worked very hard this whole year to create the chemistry and belief in one another.”
“We’re going to continue on having that same belief in each other.”