Veteran Kelly Williams anchored TNT’s frontline and carried the Tropang Giga to an 83-76 victory over Magnolia on Sunday, assuring them of a quarterfinal berth in a perfect 6-0 record at Season 46 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 46 Philippine Cup at the Don Honorio Ventura State University gym in Bacolor, Pampanga.
Williams, who was convinced by returning head coach Chot Reyes to come out from a brief retirement, posted 13 points, grabbed 15 rebounds, and blocked three shots. His massive effort inside the paint was supported by another veteran Jayson Castro who took the scoring cudgels with 17 points.
“We know that they are a hard-pressing team, and they have a lot of active guards and their bigs are very aggressive and skilled,” Williams said. “We had our hands full coming in and we just want to focus on making sure we are smart with the ball, making the right decisions, and getting the ball as much as we can.”
Rookie Mikey Williams added 14 points and Roger Pogoy had 12 points. Troy Rosario contributed 11 points in addition to his eight rebounds while JP Erram shared nine points and 10 rebounds for TNT, which scored more triples than the Hotshots (10-1).
It was the first in the coaching career of Reyes to start the conference with a sixth game winning streak. But the Tropang Giga mentor said what’s important is to get better each game.
“We are a work in progress. We are not thinking of the record. We are not thinking of anything else, except to just get better,” the former national coach said.
Castro scored a trey in the early part of the fourth period to establish a 69-56 for TNT, which held on to the advantage until the final buzzer.
Magnolia drew 23 points and six rebounds from Calvin Abueva, but it wasn’t enough falling into a 5-2 win-loss record tied with Meralco.