Bol to be dominant down the road?

MANILA, Philippines — In his much anticipated PBA debut, TNT import Bol Bol showed a big sampling of his caliber, averaging a Commissioner’s Cup-high 39 points to go with 15.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 3.5 blocks.

And as he gets more accustomed to action in Asia’s first play-for-pay league, the defending champion Tropang 5G expect to harness the full potential of the 7-foot-3 NBA-caliber player moving forward.

“I thought Bol put in a great effort on the floor,” coach Chot Reyes said of Bol, who scored 40 and hauled down 15 rebounds as TNT got on the board with a 103-97 win over NLEX Sunday after opening its title defense with a 109-112 loss to Rain or Shine two nights before.

“But I think we still need some more work before he figures out really how to play here in the PBA. We told him. At least now he’s experiencing first hand that this is a tough league. So hopefully we keep improving and hope he keeps improving,” he added.

Reyes lauded the effort of Bol and his teammates in bouncing back from the listless performance against ROS that led him to say “we sucked like hell” after the fight-marred game.

“I felt Rain or Shine just simply outworked us and for us, effort is a sacred value. We can accept teams outplaying us, being better than us, but we cannot accept losing the effort battle. And that’s why I was very upset in the last game because Rain or Shine just simply outworked us.”

TNT is tackling the early part of its repeat drive without key player RR Pogoy, who hasn’t been cleared to return to active duty yet after the calf injury he sustained in the last Philippine Cup finals.