It wasn’t an easy job. But their efforts paid off in the end.
While TNT Tropang Giga import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson carried the bulk of the load, two players provided the intangibles that ultimately helped the team take a 104-95 win over Barangay Ginebra San Miguel in Game 5 of the PBA Governors’ Cup finals on Wednesday.
Those two were Poy Erram and Kelly Williams.
The TNT big men took turns in holding down the reigning Best Player of the Conference, Christian Standhardinger, in the win that put the Tropang Giga on the cusp of winning their first Governors’ Cup title.
The Fil-German still put on a Herculean effort with 29 points and 13 rebounds, as he carried the load for Ginebra, which played most of the second half without Justin Brownlee, who was bothered by a bad case of food poisoning.
Despite Standhardinger's big numbers, Lastimosa still recognized the key role Erram and Williams played in wearing down the 6-foot-8 cager in the homestretch of the match at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
If not for these two, Lastimosa said Standhardinger would have done more damage.
“Christian was a monster tonight. It has to take our two big men to slow down Christian and I think he still had I think 30 [29 points] tonight,” he said. “I thought if we won’t be able to control Christian without Brownlee there, I think Christian would have easily carried the team tonight.”
With the two TNT slotmen doing a fantastic job of making life tough for the former in the low block, the Tropang Giga ran away with the win for a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven finale.
“We just had some really crucial stops towards the end with Poy and Kelly there. That was huge. Eventually Christian would tire out and that was what I was hoping. He was really tired,” Lastimosa said.
TNT will go for the crown in Game 6 on Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.