TNT, motivated and formidable, starts bid to halt Governors’ Cup juggernaut of Barangay Ginebra

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson has also been on the defensive end for TNT.—AUGUST DELA CRUZ

Coach Jojo Lastimosa said he received a message from former teammate Sean Chambers recently.

“He told me, ‘You cannot make them win because Justin will be one up against me,’” Lastimosa said.

The former Alaska import was talking about Barangay Ginebra’s Justin Brownlee; the two are currently tied at the top spot of the list of imports with the most Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) championships.

And when the PBA Governors’ Cup Finals gets going with Game 1 on Easter Sunday, Brownlee will have a crack at breaking that tie—six titles each—when TNT and Barangay Ginebra collide at 6 p.m.

Chambers’ request was more a half-joke than anything else and Lastimosa has acknowledged that the Tropang Giga will enter the championship battle with their own motivation, one they made perfectly clear by practically steamrolling to the Finals with 14 wins in 16 matches.

“They really want to make up for a poor performance in the previous conference,” Lastimosa said.

But redemption won’t be an easy goal because of the team on the other side of the court.

“It’s gonna be hard to do,” said Lastimosa. “I know that it’s going to be a big challenge for all of us and we just want to be able to compete with them.”

But Ginebra coach Tim Cone, who handled Lastimosa during his prime in the 90s, has a high regard for TNT too as he tries to steer his Gin Kings to a fifth title in the last six editions of the season-ending conference.

“They’re gonna be formidable, we know that,” said Cone.

Much of Cone’s concerns are centered on the other import in this title series.

All-around play

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson has flaunted an all-around play that has kept TNT in fiery form after coming in with a lot of heat because he replaced a very much in-form Jalen Hudson.

The matchup between Brownlee and Hollis-Jefferson is just one of many intriguing subplots in only the fourth meeting of Ginebra and TNT for a PBA championship.

“We gonna go out and try to make them uncomfortable in Game 1,” Cone said.

Christian Standhardinger, the leading candidate for the Best Player of the Conference, could draw the task of causing Hollis-Jefferson a lot of discomfort. The Filipino-German big man is one of Cone’s top-notch defenders.

The Kings also have a lot of firepower. Scottie Thompson is capable of putting up all-around numbers while Jamie Malonzo, Jeremiah Gray and Nards Pinto add to Ginebra’s depth.

TNT has had a lot of tools to counter Ginebra’s weapons. RR Pogoy is riding a recent scoring surge, Calvin Oftana hopes to deliver in his first taste of Finals basketball while Mikey Williams is out to show the same kind of performance he put up in the 2021 Philippine Cup when he was Finals MVP after TNT’s romp of Magnolia.

Biggest moments

And Lastimosa, a player familiar with hitting the biggest shots in the biggest moments, knows his players will embrace the challenge of playing against Ginebra.

“You don’t make a name for yourself in the elimination round,” Lastimosa said.

TNT’s title conquest of Magnolia in the 2021all-Filipino tournament was the last time the franchise celebrated a championship. The team was booted out by Ginebra in last year’s Governors’ Cup quarterfinals and lost a seven-game finale against San Miguel Beer in this season’s Philippine Cup.