MANILA, Philippines — The TNT Tropang Giga had started out Game Three the same way they did in the first two games of the series against the San Miguel Beermen — in front and up big.
But something different in Game Three was that they were able to deny San Miguel any hope of getting within striking distance.
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The sustained high pace of play by the Tropang Giga was a response to Coach Chot Reyes' instructions after a painful loss in Game Two, where they were beat, 98-96, after leading by as much as 19 points.
The gameplan was simple — play the whole 48 minutes of the game.
"In both games of the series, we got beat in the fourth quarter... So sabi namin, our focus now was to come out and play the full 48 minutes," Reyes said after the win.
"And kanina after the third quarter and we had the lead, yun lang ang pinagusapan namin and I just reminded them na ito na naman tayo... So let's focus here, let's lock in and remember what we talked about that we need to be able to close out games, we need to play a complete 48 minutes," he added.
In Game Three, TNT were ahead by 17 points heading into the final salvo, just a bucket more than their 15-point lead that was erased in Game Two.
But unlike their previous loss, the Tropang Giga came to play at pace with the Beermen until the end game.
TNT ended up scoring bucket-for-bucket to finish with a 30-all deadlock of points scored in the quarter.
This was a far cry to Game Two where they were terriby outscored, 31-14, which stole the win from right under TNT's feet.
Reyes was thus happy at his players' answer to his call to bring them closer to the Philippine Cup trophy
"To the credit of the players they responded," Reyes said.
Game Four between TNT and San Miguel tips off on Sunday.