Katropa, Bolts clash in rubber finals or dead-end

MANILA, Philippines — In the middle of Christmas rush, TNT KaTropa and Meralco set out to beat each other out for a coveted trip to the PBA Governors Cup finals.

Locked in a stalemate in an extended semifinal series, the KaTropa and the Bolts engage in a fifth blood-and-guts confrontation tonight at the Ynares Center in Antipolo to settle the score and win the gift of a ticket to the Last Dance against early finalist Barangay Ginebra.

“Everyone’s all-out now. All the cards are out so it’s down to who’s hungrier to win,” said TNT skipper Jayson Castro ahead of the 7 p.m. rubbermatch.

“It’s another do or die game so we have to bring energy and a sense of urgency to the game. Our goal is to make it to the finals,” said Meralco coach Norman Black.

The protagonists have taken turns beating the other side soundly in the first four games.

TNT took the opener, 103-94, but Meralco countered with a 114-94 rout in Game 2. The trend continued as the KaTropa won the third match, 101-97, to get on the hill but failed to capitalize as the no-quit Bolts fought back with a 95-83 win in Game 4 last Saturday to force a KO.

“So far, the series has been a game of adjustments and obviously TNT won the first game so they got a little ahead as far as that is concerned. Now we just have to figure out what to do in Game 5, how we can adjust to make sure we can get a victory,” said Black.

For TNT, one major problem to solve is Meralco’s Allen Durham.

“We need to stop Durham. In both their wins, he did most of the job and not the locals, so we have to find a way to stop Durham,” said Castro.

TNT coach Bong Ravena added a sustained performance to the KaTropa’s to-do list. In Game 4, KJ McDaniels and company got off to a sizzling 17-4 start but slowed down a bit just as must-win Meralco switched gears and sped past them.

“It’s how we come out in the game from start to finish,” said Ravena. “It will be a case of ‘who wants it more’ winning this game. Meralco outworked us (in Game 4) so we have to double our efforts (in the decider).

Black tasked his wards to once more wield their rebounding power like they did in Game 4.

“Rebounding has been our strength this conference. We’re No. 1 in terms of rebounding differential between what we get and what the opposing team gets. We gave up a lot of offensive rebounds in Game 3 (loss) so we fixed that in Game 4. We’re a good rebounding team. We’re not going to let rebounding decide whether we lose or not. It has to be something else,” said Black.