PBA: ‘Good flow, chemistry’ fueling TNT’s high-scoring drive

TNT guard Mikey Williams in the PBA Governors’ Cup. –PBA IMAGES

MANILA, Philippines—TNT registered the league’s highest scoring output in the young PBA Governors’ Cup tournament at Mall of Asia on Saturday.

Already building through a high-scoring first half, Tropang Giga sizzled until the final buzzer to notch a 131-109 against Terrafirma. The previous league-high was held by Converge after its 130-115 win, also against Dyip, at Philsports Arena last month.

Even with such a stacked roster like TNT’s, Mikey Williams believes it was all about their ball rotation and not just the talent in the team.

“I think we’re finding a good flow and chemistry right now. We’re just finding ways to pick and choose our spots. We’re getting everybody in their strongest suits. Moving forward, that’ll be our strength; finding people in their good spots,” said Williams after dropping 26 points in the victory.

The 6-foot-2 playmaker shot a blistering 60 percent from the field, sinking nine of his 15 shots, including five triples.

To add to Tropang Giga’s tremendous scoring performance, only three players shot under 40 percent from the field. 

TNT collectively shot 56 percent from the playing field while hounding Terrafirma on defense for only a 46 percent shooting clip.

“We have a lot of players who can score and one of them is Mikey. He even passes up a lot of opportunities which frustrates me but I want him to be more aggressive,” said coach Jojo Lastimosa.

“The rest of the other guys, they are all skilled. We have Roger, Jalen, Jayson and even Kelly contributing. Everyone can score, for as long as we share the ball,” he added.

Fatigue, though, was also a factor in the win as  Terrafirma was coming off a hard-fought win against Blackwater, 119-106, just two days ago. 

Import Jordan Williams had to produce 57 points to give Dyip the win. He only had 38 markers on Saturday on a subpar 15-for-27 shooting clip. 

“We talked about them going on a back-to-back so we should have energy and I think we accomplished that. We had 68 points in the first half and they only had, like, 40? I was happy about our first half. It was all about our defense,” explained the head tactician.

Already holding a 5-1 record, Tropang Giga looks to keep their place in the upper part of the standings when they take on the Bossings on Wednesday at the same venue.