In retrospect, TNT hardly looked like a defending champion during the eliminations of the PBA Season 50 Commissioner's Cup. The Tropang 5G entered the quarterfinals as eighth seed with a 6-6 win-loss record and even ended the elims on a three-game losing skid.

But somehow, the team managed to turn things around in the quarters, beating top seed NLEX twice and then taking the series opener against Meralco in the semifinals.

So what changed?

In their last three losses, TNT's 7-foot-3 import Bol Bol had to do the heavy lifting, even scoring more than half of the team’s total output during that stretch with little to no support coming from the locals.

Calvin Oftana opened up about the forum the players did with Bol, encouraging him to share the wealth. In the twin victories over the Road Warriors, Bol finally had ample support with Jayson Castro, Calvin Oftana and RR Pogoy all scoring in double figures.

In the 94-89 win over Meralco, Bol had his usual numbers of 37 points, 11 rebounds and six blocks, but this time, went with eight assists.

For TNT head coach Chot Reyes, however, it was the health of the squad that keyed the resurgence more than the team finally learning to play around Bol.

“We were struggling the whole conference trying to find that combination and that balance. But again, remember, we were never fully healthy in the eliminations,” said Reyes.

“We didn't have a fully healthy Roger Pogoy. We were managing his minutes. Jordan missed a couple of games. We missed Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser a couple of games as well, so we were not really able to put the line-up that we wanted together,” he stressed.

And a proof to that was the team’s finishing lineup against the Bolts.

TNT had Rey Nambatac and Heading on the backcourt, Oftana and Pogoy on the wings and Bol at the center — a lineup that perfectly worked to the Tropang 5G’s favor in the end game.

“Well, that's really a line-up that we like going to because it's pretty hard to match-up and defend against that line-up,” he added.