Calvin Oftana fuels hot start as TNT levels PBA Finals series
TNT Tropang 5G’s Calvin Oftana during a game vs Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals. –PBA IMAGES
MANILA, Philippines–For TNT star Calvin Oftana, there was no more reason to dwell on how painful Game 1 of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals ended.
What he had was the reason to make sure his confidence would translate into a better result for the defending champion Tropang 5G, who evened their PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals series with Barangay Ginebra at 1-1 after a high-wire win on Friday night.
“The confidence is always there, it’s just a matter of getting that trust from my teammates,” Oftana said after the Tropang 5G’s 101-94 win over the hard-finishing Gin Kings before 11,500 fans at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Oftana took advantage of that trust and fired a season-high 31 points that came off a torrid first quarter, which allowed TNT to take early command on the way to posting leads of as high as 22 points.
“That trust is what really boosted me,” added Oftana, who also had 10 rebounds in 40 minutes.
Game 3 of the best-of-seven duel is on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena, where the proverbial head start in a series that is now down to a best-of-five will be up for grabs.
TNT, with five other players in double figures, including 19 from import Chris McCullough, 14 from Jordan Heading and 10 from Rey Nambatac, got the victory after dropping the series opener two nights earlier.
The Tropang 5G just came up short in drawing first blood in the best-of-seven affair despite erasing an 18-point deficit in the third and even taking the lead late in the fourth before RJ Abarrientos and Justin Brownlee saved the day for the Gin Kings.
Game 1 concluded with a non-call when Oftana tried to score off an alley-oop while being challenged by Justin Brownlee with 0.6 seconds left, prompting TNT coach Chot Reyes to contest a possible foul that was never called.
“For us, it’s about moving forward,” said Oftana. “The lesson from that game was that we lost Game 1 (even) with how bad we played in the first half. That’s how things go, but everyone was motivated to try and win tonight.”
Game 2 almost slipped away from TNT again, when Ginebra slowly mounted a comeback led by its second unit that included Isaac Go and rookie John Abis, before Abarrientos hit some contested threes that closed the deficit to four.
TNT, though, hung truly tough this time around.
Justin Brownlee, who is now the frontrunner for the Best Import plum, finished with 24 points and 15 rebounds, while Abarrientos, who also has the inside track on a first Best Player of the Conference citation, added 21 points for the Gin Kings.
