TNT Tropang Giga rebounded from a stinging overtime loss in Game 2 to smother Meralco Bolts, 99-80, and take a 2-1 lead in their 2023 PBA Governors' Cup best-of-five semifinal series on Wednesday.
The Tropang Giga can advance to the finals -- where Barangay Ginebra lie in wait -- with another win in Game 4 on Friday.
TNT took a commanding 56-30 lead at halftime and were never seriously threatened in the second half as the Bolts looked nothing like the team that took Game 2 in overtime.
Here, we take a closer look at the result with three thoughs on Wednesday's contest.
Back to dominating
The Tropang Giga had their ten-game winning streak snapped last Sunday, marking just the second time they lost this conference. It was as if they took that loss personally and took it out on the hapless Bolts, whom they limited to just 5-of-33 shooting from beyond the arc.
"What happened in the second game is I think we threw away all our defensive technique on how to help," TNT coach Jojo Lastimosa said. "We gave so many drives to the basket, and you can see tonight it was more of a defensive game, and we didn't even hit 100 points today, which is strange. But we can also play the game like they do.
"They're a defensive team, and we can also be a defensive grind-out team like tonight. Just credit to the coaches that devised a really great game plan for tonight, and we're hoping to sustain that next game."
Bolts coach Norman Black rued his team's slow start and inability to make their open shots, admitting: "It's a tough one for us. They were able to establish their game immediately in the first quarter.
"Their import (Rondae Hollis-Jefferson) came out with a lot of energy. I think he pretty much dominated the first half against us. We tried to make a little bit of a recovery in the second half, but we were just down by too many to really get back in the game.
"Offensively, they were pretty solid tonight, particularly the two guys, (Rondae) Hollis-Jefferson and Mikey Williams. They scored the ball quite well. Defensively, I thought they defended KJ (McDaniels) better tonight than they did the last game. He had a more difficult time scoring inside the penalty area."
Allein Maliksi typified the Bolts' offensive struggles, making just one of 14 shots. After scoring 39 in Game 2, McDaniels finished with 30, but had to work for each bucket.
"We were able to score last game," Black added. "They made some adjustments and their defense was better tonight. They gave us a lot of threes, just didn't make them. Allein had a lot of open shots at the beginning of the game, but he couldn't knock them down. So they gambled a little bit trying to take away KJ and it worked."
RHJ drops 40 while fasting
Tropang Giga import Hollis-Jefferson, a devout Muslim, has been observing Ramadan the past week, which means he cannot eat or drink anything from sunrise to sundown.
If he was feeling weak from the fasting, it certainly didn't show as he played 41 minutes and scored 40 points to go along with 13 rebounds.
The Tropang Giga know they were lucky that their Game 3 was the second game of the double-header and kicked off at 5:45 p.m., allowing Hollis-Jefferson to eat something at halftime.
"He ate a little bit," said Williams, who backed up Hollis-Jeferson with 29 points. "He had some fruit cups and stuff like that. Gave him a little energy. "He understood that he had a terrible game last game," Jojo Lastimosa added. "He only shot 36 percent, and if not for his free throws... it was out of character for Rondae.
"In the first game, I think he really struggled. I mean, we don't want to admit it because by that time we hit the game at 3 p.m., he hadn't eaten anything solid since sunrise. So this second game and even our game on Game 4, which is going to be 6 p.m., is going to help Rondae a lot."
When asked if he could play under similar conditions, Williams said: "Oh no, I couldn't. I couldn't experience that. I don't know what I would do, not having food let alone water.
"I know how hard that can be. So we're just trying to be there for him as best as we can and try to conserve all his energy as best as we can."
Looking ahead to Game 4
TNT can advance to the finals with a win on Friday, and Lastimosa knows it will be a dogfight.
"I'm telling you, I've been in a situation where I played, I've been in a situation where I was an assistant coach, and the closeout game is always hard," he added.
"We always talk about that. For some reason, there's just a different feel when you're trying to close out a game because we know that the other team is also desperate. At the same time, you don't want to force the issue. You want to close out the game."
Williams expects the Bolts to follow what they did in Game 2, stressing: "They'll be aggressive. You see in Game 2, every time we score, they pushed it right back down, down in transition. So that's where they scored most of their points last game.
"So I think we just got to be ready in transition just withstand their punch and just weather what we need to weather and continue to push and do what we need to do. For sure, it's going to be a hard game next game."
"It's going to be a dogfight," Lastimosa added. "It's going to be a battle. And whoever comes out on the team that wins the game, they're going to be bloody. So it's going to be a hard game in Game 4."