Banged-up Tropa welcome breather ahead of finale

MANILA, Philippines — After hurdling a bruising semifinal series against tough Magnolia, defending champion TNT welcomes the extra breather it will enjoy before plunging right back into action in the PBA Philippine Cup finale.

The Tropang Giga finished off the Hotshots in Game 6 last Sunday, 87-74, and with San Miguel Beer and Meralco still to settle their Last-4 dispute this Wednesday, the championship opener is likely to start on Sunday.

“It’s very big for us,” said TNT coach Chot Reyes, whose troops had been actually waging battle for the past two weeks.

“As you can see, we got a lot of players who are banged up so that extra break is going to come in really, really handy, not only to rest but also to prepare (against either SMB or Meralco),” he added.

The Bolts dragged the Beermen to a deciding Game 7 with a dramatic 96-92 come-from-behind equalizer in their sixth match the other day.

Whichever way that semis matchup goes, Reyes and Co. will have to brace for a fierce fight for their throne.

“Maski sino, we’re really going to be tested,” said the multi-titled mentor.

He pointed out the “problems” TNT will have to deal with versus each of its potential rivals, especially size-wise.

“We all know the problem San Miguel presents with June Mar (Fajardo), with their size and their overall talent,” he noted.

“With Meralco, it’s their scrappiness and the way they play defense. They also have the size in the wing position. Meralco doesn’t post their bigs up, they post wingmen up so that’s a different problem for us. And you know how we like to play small so we have to solve that,” he added.

“It’s going to test our versatility,” he offered.