At A Glance
- The Tropang 5G (4-3), who finally have some of their key players back in the fold, will try to exact their revenge against the Road Warriors (6-1) in their duel at 7:10 p.m.
An almost complete TNT is ready for a grudge match against NLEX in their marquee collision at the resumption of the PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup at the Ynares Center in Antipolo on Tuesday, Aug. 11.
The Tropang 5G (4-3), who finally have some of their key players back in the fold, will try to exact their revenge against the Road Warriors (6-1) in their duel at 7:10 p.m.
Providing a fitting appetizer in that duel is the clash between Converge (3-4) and Terrafirma (3-4) in the first offering at 5:15 p.m.
The doubleheader was initially scheduled to be played at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium but the inclement weather, which already forced the PBA to suspend their Sunday twinbill, also prompted the league to move to the Antipolo Arena largely due to the possible flooding situation around the Malate venue.
TNT, coming off a dominant 114-80 win over Titan Ultra last Saturday, Aug. 8, is raring to get another shot at NLEX, which defeated the Tropang 5G, 88-83, exactly a week ago.
And the confidence that it can better hold its own this time around comes from the fact that guys like RR Pogoy, Jordan Heading and Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser, who missed their first meetings, are now healthy and playing well for TNT.
Heading and Ganuelas Rosser even spearheaded the Tropang 5G to the huge win over the Giant Risers.
“It's a big thing that we have an almost complete complement at our disposal today," said TNT coach Chot Reyes, who is still missing Jayson Castro, Kelly Williams and Calvin Oftana.
"We really made a concerted effort to focus on defense. Even when we lost to NLEX, I thought we played great defense except we just couldn't put points on the board because we didn't have Jordan and Roger in that game. Thankfully, we had both of them in," added Reyes.
But NLEX is surely an entirely different team this time as compared to their first clash. The Road Warriors are no longer undefeated after the Terrafirma Dyip finally found a chink on its armor in their last game and won, 114-109.
The Road Warriors led by Robert Bolick, Schonny Winston and import Dequan Jones are surely eager to get back on the right track.