The long ball might very well decide this series.
The TNT Tropang Giga are right where they want to be: tied at 2-2 with Barangay Ginebra San Miguel in these PBA Governors’ Cup finals. And they are halfway through a most improbable championship because, for two games at least, they have done what they do best—shoot lights out from beyond the arc.
Curiously, TNT coach Jojo Lastimosa tried to downplay the importance of the trey ball, pointing out after Game 4 the on-and-off nature of shooting, and then emphasizing that defense will ultimately decide the winner of this championship series.
Maybe he is right. But these are the Tropang Giga, and they have lived and died with that long ball for the past how many years already. They will live and die with it in these finals, too.
And if Game 4 was any indication, the Tropang Giga appear to have enough firepower even without leading local scorer RR Pogoy to shoot down the Dragon slayers of last conference. But they cannot get carried away and just shoot without a conscience. Games 2 and 4 offered TNT the blueprint: Spread Ginebra out and either get import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson attacking downhill, or run a high pick-and-roll, usually initiated by Jayson Castro or by Hollis-Jefferson himself.
That is how TNT has gotten good—through open looks from beyond the arc—and it will have to keep doing the same things over and over until Ginebra figures them out.
In other words, these Tropang Giga will have to continue playing TNT basketball. They will keep getting good looks if they do—and it will boil down to how many of these open shots Mikey Williams and company can make.
Game 5 of this championship series is on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.