TNT unlocks Bol magic

MANILA, Philippines — Unicorn Bol Manute Bol and his highly capable local teammates are starting to play beautiful music together.

Good news for repeat-seeking TNT.

Bad news for its next rivals in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup playoffs.

“Right now, we’re looking good in our own way, nakukuha na namin iyung rhythm namin with Bol, and Bol is looking pretty good playing with us (locals),” Tropang 5G star Calvin Oftana said Saturday after the eight-seeded defending champions completed a two-game reversal of No. 1 NLEX with a 118-112 victory to reach the semis against No. 4 Meralco.

“Motivated kami. Siyempre ayaw namin na umalis agad si Bol ng ganoon, ganito lang. And kami rin naman. Maraming nangyari sa team and happy ako na nakalusot kami this quarters,” he added.

Bol generally did the heavy lifting for TNT in the eliminations. They recorded 6-6, enough to make the cut.

Just in time for the playoffs, the 7-foot-3 Bol allowed the team’s homegrown aces led by Oftana, Jason Castro and RR Pogoy to get much more involved.

And the results were magical.

Oftana, Castro and Pogoy combined for 55 points, 17 rebounds and 15 assists in the rubbermatch against the Road Warriors, complementing Bol’s 35-13.

This mirrored the trio’s 48-8-5 contribution to Bol’s 34-14 in the 96-93 verdict at the start of the quarterfinals that kept twice-to-win TNT alive.

Oftana said they had an “open forum” with Bol and they convinced him to “trust us more.”

“Ang maganda lang kasi kay Bol in-accept niya ‘yun as a brother. Talagang doon kami nagkasundo lahat. And happy kami na ipinapakita ni Bol talaga iyung versatility niya sa laro and it’s up to us na mga locals to help him para makayod namin itong semifinals to the finals,” he said.

“Sabi nga ni coach you need to trust these locals kasi we’ve been there for a couple of times na sa semis, sa finals and naniwala naman siya. Now, kaming locals kailangang namin i-prove sa kanya na tama ‘yung sinabi ng mga coaches at ‘yung sinabi namin sa kanya.”

TNT and Meralco raise the curtain for the best-of-seven semifinals on Wednesday at Ynares Center-Antipolo at 5:15 p.m.