Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Mikey Williams provided a double-barrel gun to TNT’s vaunted attack to blast Meralco, 99-80, and reclaim the upperhand in their 2023 PBA Governors’ best-of-five semifinals series at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday, March 29.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson fights through Meralco's double-team scheme (PBA Images)

Hollis-Jefferson set up the tone to the rout, dropping 24 of his 40 points in the first half before Williams also went on to work in the last two quarters to ensure that the Tropang Giga rose to a 2-1 series lead against the hard-fighting Bolts.

The former NBA player looked much better in the contest as he also collected 13 rebounds and was a consistent threat from start to finish – a stark difference from his showing in their Game 2 loss where he was hardly felt in the fourth quarter and in the overtime period.

Hollis-Jefferson anchored a strong first half showing on both ends for TNT, exploding for 56 points in the first half while limiting Meralco to just 15 points in each of the first two quarters.

Williams provided support to Hollis-Jefferson with a conference-high tying 29 points built on six triples.

More than the two’s offensive explosion, TNT head coach Jojo Lastimosa said the win just showed that his team is also very much capable of also playing a defensive-type of game.

“What happened in the second game I think is, we threw away all our defensive techniques. We gave so many drives to the basket and tonight it was more of a defensive game,” said Lastimosa.

“We didn’t even hit a hundred points today whoich is strange  but we also played the game like they do. They are a defensive team and we can also be a defensive grind out team like tonight,” he added.

Indeed, the Tropang Giga showed their defensive fangs after Aaron Black, who exploded for 28 points in Game 2, was limited to just 11 points in the contest.

Meralco never really threatened enough in the second half after falling behind by as many as 28 points as the closest it could get was 12 when the Bolts made a run early in the final frame. 

Hollis-Jefferson and Williams, however, foiled all their hopes with timely hits in the final frame that completely took the fight out of the Bolts.

KJ McDaniels was the lone bright spot for the Bolts with 30 points and 10 rebounds as Meralco tries to keep its finals bid alive in Game 4 on Friday at the same venue.