Tongue-lashing fires up Tropang 5G in keeping Grand Slam bid afloat

MANILA, Philippines -- Facing an uphill battle to keep their Grand Slam aspirations alive, the TNT Tropang 5G were seemingly woken up by a tongue-lashing from head coach Chot Reyes.

The depleted TNT squad, which had a twice-to-win disadvantage against Magnolia, forced a sudden-death quarterfinal game after squeaking out an 89-88 win against the Hotshots on Wednesday.

Reyes, after the game, said that while the Grand Slam is “not really in their mind”, they had a “long talk” before practice as he asked the team how hard they want to be part of the historic list.

“For me, first of all, it's really not in our minds. But my attitude is these guys have done so much already this year. If the Grand Slam is not for us, it's not for us. But no one is going to take away what we have achieved already this season,” the coach said.

“Having said that, we had a long talk. Before practice the other day, to ask them really how much they want. If this is something they really, really want. Because it's going to be really, really, really hard,” he added.

Guard RR Pogoy also acknowledged that the tongue-lashing gave the team “added fuel”.

“Palagi naman yun, kung nagagalit na si Coach, pag nagtatanong na kung anong gusto namin, talagang the next game, parang added na fuel talagang lahat, gustong magpakamatay,” Pogoy, who led the team with 30 points, said.

“Talagang ganun palagi pag nagagalit na. Kasi minsan pinapabyaaan kami, e nagrerelax, pag nagalit si coach, talagang lahat magigising na.”

Only five teams have completed the Grand Slam in PBA history – the Crispa Redmanizers in 1976 and in 1983, the San Miguel Beermen in 1989, the Alaska Milkmen in 1996 and the San Mig Super Coffee Mixers in 2013-14.

Reyes underscored that even before Wednesday’s game, they were “really hellbent” on playing on Saturday.

“Ang inisip lang namin is that we are coming back and we're playing on Saturday going to this ball game. We set our practice schedule [Thursday] and Friday because we were hellbent on playing on Saturday.”

Their matchup will tip off at 5 p.m. on Saturday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.