Norman Black. FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – Wary of Rain or Shine’s sense of urgency, Talk ‘N Text braced for its toughest challenge yet.
And the Elasto Painters didn’t disappoint.
“We went into this game thinking because Rain or Shine is down, 0-2, they would throw everything at us today,” said TNT head coach Norman Black after an 89-80 win in Game 3 for a 3-0 series lead.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game and it will probably be a more physical game,” Black added.
But despite ROS’ best game of the championship series, TNT still held its ground.
Rain or Shine drew a much-needed offensive production from rookie Chris Tiu and second-stringer Ryan Araña in the third quarter, where the Painters grabbed the momentum which it sustained at least through the early part of the fourth quarter.
Before Talk ‘N Text, which fell behind by nine, 61-70, with 10:59 left, regrouped and responded with a run of its own thanks to its hot-shooting beyond-the-arc.
“Looking at the statistics also, I think our three-point shooting bailed us out once again. We shot the ball well from three points,” Black pointed out, as his team knocked in nine threes, five in the final 8:39 of the game, as compared to Rain or Shine’s four-of-22 shooting.
Black though, doesn’t seem pleased with his team’s offense overall and instead, praised the Texters defensive effort.
“We just wanted to hang around and give ourselves a chance to win but like I said our offense really struggled today but defensively we were able to hold the fort at least,” he said.
Silent majority of the game, Alapag made noise when it mattered most, saving his best for last by scoring 11 of his 15 second-half points in the fourth quarter.
“Eventually, down the stretch in the fourth quarter Jimmy Alapag hit a couple of huge three-pointers for us that really separated us and that basically was the difference in the game,” Black said.