The TNT Tropang Giga made the most of six-time Barangay Ginebra champion import Justin Brownlee’s early exit, essaying a 104-95 victory for the pivotal 3-2 lead in the race-to-four-games series Wednesday night before a crowd of over 10,000 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
With Brownlee gone, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and his teammates kept their feet on the pedal and didn’t let the opportunity slip away, clinching the crucial win on an 8-0 closing punch.
Brownlee headed to the dugout ahead of the rest late in the third quarter with a towel over his head. He never came back to play after getting hurt.
Hollis-Jefferson piled up triple-double numbers with 32 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists, Calvin Oftana contributed 20 markers, including four treys plus eight boards with four other TNT players contributing double-digit output as the Tropa snapped the back-and-forth sequence in the series.
With back-to-back wins, coach Jojo Lastimosa and the TNT gang finally grabbed the series upper hand with a chance to win it in Game 6 Friday or in Game 7, if necessary, Sunday.
But Lastimosa braces for a tough, tough fight Friday, believing Brownlee will be back in action. “He’s a warrior,” said Lastimosa of “Kabayan JB.”
Brownlee was limited to a little over 25 minutes of action in Game 5, putting in 14 markers on 6-of-11 field clip.
Brownlee joined forces with Christian Standhardinger and Nards Pinto as the Kings had a sudden roll in the second quarter, seizing control at 61-49 going to the halftime break.
The Tropa, however, recovered from that Ginebra jolt, fighting back from a deficit as big as 15 to get back into the fight at 61-63 before racing ahead, 81-79, going to the final canto.
And there’s no stopping the Tropang Giga in the fourth with Brownlee being attended by their staff in the dugout.
Standhardinger, Brownlee and Pinto starred in a second-quarter surge highlighted by a 15-to-nothing roll from 39-all count.
At the half, Standhardinger had had 18 points and seven rebounds, Brownlee 14 markers and four boards, and Pinto 10 points, two rebounds and the same number of assists and steals.
But Hollis-Jefferson and his teammates showed their own no-quit attitude, starting the third with a mighty 14-2 run to pull even at 63-all.
Nursing a slim lead at 96-95 in the last four minutes, Erram, Hollis-Jefferson and Castro teamed up for the killer bomb, sending TNT to the brink of the crown.(PBA.PH)
The Scores:
TNT 104 – Hollis-Jefferson 32, Oftana 20, M.Williams 15, Khobuntin 10, Castro 10, Erram 10, K.Williams 5, Montalbo 2, Marcelo 0.
Ginebra 95 – Standhardinger 29, Pinto 18, Brownlee 14, Thompson 12, Gray 10, Malonzo 6, Pringle 6, J.Aguilar 0, Mariano 0.
Quarters: 28-26, 49-61, 81-79, 104-95.
