TNT head coach Chot Reyes expressed his concerns about the nagging injuries of his veterans in Jayson Castro and Kelly Williams especially ahead of a looming clash against a formidable Rain or Shine team in the quarterfinals.

The veteran coach underlined the importance of the two’s presence if the Tropang Giga hope to be competitive against the Elasto Painters who Reyes regarded as the second hottest team in the league.

“The only way we can compete with them is if we have everyone on board. We have a few days for Kelly (Williams) to be 100 percent. I hope Jayson is not too banged up,” said Reyes.

“That’s our main concern first, to make sure that they recover and they're 100 percent for the game,” he added.

Reyes shared that Williams has been dealing with back spasms, an issue that sidelined the 42-year-old forward in the crucial loss to Converge last time out, while Castro is playing through jumper’s knee or patellar tendinopathy over the last four games of TNT.

Still, with TNT facing a crucial game against Magnolia – where a loss would push them to a playoff for the eighth spot and possibly a twice-to-win disadvantage against top seed San Miguel – the two stepped up and delivered to seal the fourth seed for the Tropang Giga.

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Castro powered through the pain and finished with 18 points, none bigger than the last six which kept Magnolia at bay in the waning minutes while Williams had 19 points and eight rebounds to pace TNT.

“That was really the key for us to be here; they're both a huge part of what we want to do as a team,” stressed Reyes.

With the best-of-three series likely to begin on Sunday, May 12, Castro and Williams have a couple of days to heal and recover – no doubt a much-needed boost for TNT against a strong ROS team 

“They’ve won six of the last seven games and the last time we played them we barely beat them. We just escaped by the skin of our teeth. Very strong team coach Yeng (Guiao) has them playing at a very high level,” Reyes said of their quarterfinals opponents.