Grand Slam beckons Tropang Texters

A BONUS bonanza awaits the players and coaching staff if Talk ‘N Text pulls off a Philippine Basketball Association Grand Slam with a victory in the season-ending Governors Cup.

One conference after team owner Manny V. Pangilinan gifted his players a brand new car each for ruling the Philippine Cup, several Tropang Texters were rewarded more than P1 million after TNT won the Commissioner’s Cup Sunday night.

A cool P600,000 plus a month’s pay were given each Texter after TNT ended the series two nights ago with a 99-96 overtime victory over Barangay Ginebra at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

Jimmy Alapag and other superstar Texters in the lineup, who earn the maximum allowable salary of P350,000 a month, easily made more than P1 million after Sunday’s night’s classic.

“Now that we’ve won the second conference, there’s only one jewel missing in the Triple Crown,” coach Chot Reyes had said in the din of the celebration. “Of course, we will go for that.

“It would be very difficult. But as we’ve proven in this game, you can’t underestimate the heart of this team,” Reyes added.

“We’ll figure out how to make another championship run, and who knows?”

Alapag and Kelly Williams will miss the Governors Cup, which starts next month, as they join the Smart Gilas national five that will try to qualify for the London Olympics next year by winning the Fiba-Asia championship in August.

But the way Jason Castro played in the last two tournaments certainly makes it easy for Reyes to replace Alapag at the point for the Texters.

Reyes also won’t miss Williams that much as he still has a lot of agile big men at his disposal. The only problem confronting the Texters in the coming campaign would be its choice of import for the tournament.

Based on its cumulative record for the first two conferences, TNT will get no taller than a 6-foot-2 import like San Miguel Beer, Derby Ace and Ginebra.

The rest will have 6-4 imports except Powerade, which will enjoy the services of a 6-6 import as the squad failed to make it past the eliminations of both tournaments.

Only defunct Crispa in 1976 and 1983, San Miguel in 1989 and Alaska in 1996 have completed Grand Slams.

Swift, which left the league in 2001, was the last team to come within a win of a “slam” in 1998.

Reports said problems with its import helped doom Swift’s bid.