ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Basketball devider Resilient TNT tries to force Game 7 vs SMB

Resilient TNT tries to force Game 7 vs SMB

Published Jul 24, 2025 11:23 am

At A Glance

  • TNT continues to fight not only for survival but also for long-coveted glory of claiming the rare Grand Slam when it takes on San Miguel in the PBA Philippine Cup Finals at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City on Friday, July 25.
Seventy four games.
That's how many contests TNT have already played this season – the most by a team in PBA history – and it is more than willing to jump into action one more time in Game 6, and hopefully another for a Game 7.
TNT continues to fight not only for survival but also for long-coveted glory of claiming the rare Grand Slam when it takes on San Miguel in the PBA Philippine Cup Finals at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City on Friday, July 25.
With the Tropang 5G running on fumes with all the injuries to the team, head coach Chot Reyes is only banking on the grit and resilience his charges have displayed – not just in the gutsy 86-78 win in Game 5 – but all-season long.
“I just heard that we are going to play our 75th game on Friday, which is the most in PBA history ever. And it's been a very, very long season,” said Reyes.
“The players are just playing on sheer grit and heart at this point,” he added ahead of the 7:30 p.m. contest that is still expected to draw a good-sized crowd despite the inclement weather brought by the southwest monsoon and tropical storm Emong.
Already without Rey Nambatac and Jayson Castro, Simon Enciso joined the injury list with a fractured orbital bone along with Poy Erram who sustained a meniscal tear on his left leg, further depleting an already banged-up TNT lineup.
Though playing, Calvin Oftana, RR Pogoy, Jordan Heading and Kelly Williams are all powering through their respective injuries.
Whether the injury bug was brought by the very long season that saw them reach the Finals in all of the three conferences or not, TNT simply vows to fight and give itself a chance.
“Whatever it takes. As long as we have five guys who can walk, we're going to keep fighting,” said Reyes. “We've said that all year, like as long as we show up, we don't give up, we give ourselves a chance.”
Of course, as compelling as the story of TNT so far, San Miguel isn’t one to be swayed to just roll over and die – not for a proud franchise that is the Beermen and certainly not for its players who are suiting up with a chip on their shoulders after the controversial Game 1 loss.
June Mar Fajardo and CJ Perez might be far from their usual performances in Game 5 but they are expected to bounce back big for the Beermen who will be taking their second try at foiling the Tropa’s Grand Slam.
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.