Defense marks the spot

It’s not difficult to figure out what TNT and Barangay Ginebra did to draw first blood in their PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven semifinal series at the MOA Arena last Wednesday. Just look at the final scores and you’ll know defense was the key to both wins.

TNT beat Rain or Shine, 98-91 while Ginebra downed San Miguel Beer, 73-71. The similarity in both duels is the theme of offense versus defense. TNT ended the elims No. 1 in defense, allowing 88 points a game, and Ginebra, No. 2, giving up 88.8. In contrast, San Miguel was No. 1 in offense, averaging 108 and Rain or Shine, No. 2 with a 106.3 clip. The numbers are an indication of what to expect in the semis.

To match up with ROS, TNT coach Chot Reyes adjusted his point of attack from outside to inside. In the elims, TNT took 49 percent of its shots from four and three. In Game 1 of the semis, the rate was down to 35.7 percent. ROS went par for the course, taking its usual 41 percent of attempts from deep, going to the long ball more than TNT. Reyes’ adjustment was made to accommodate Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser’s presence. BGR averaged 6.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 12:23 minutes in three elim games but in the playoffs, his numbers jumped to 11.7 points, seven rebounds and 27:17 minutes. With BGR complementing Poy Erram and Kelly Williams, TNT lorded it over both boards, 59-44. Controlling the rebounds gave TNT the leverage to dictate tempo and it’s a reason why ROS could only score seven fastbreak points when in the elims, the Elasto Painters averaged 17.6.

ROS was held to less than 20 in the second and third quarters after scoring 23 in the first. Both teams rolled out five players in double figure points but TNT had three posting double-doubles to none for ROS. ROS was held to 40.7 percent shooting from the field, down from 43.9 percent in the elims and the Painters’ leading playoff scorer Santi Santillan could only notch five points from his norm of 20.

The situation was the same in the other series where Ginebra limited San Miguel to 71 points and 32.1 percent from the floor. It was the Beermen’s lowest output in the conference. JuneMar Fajardo, who averaged 17.6 points in the elims, tallied only six, his first single-digit production after 12 games. JMF delivered 19 rebounds but when it came to putting the ball in the hole, he was bottled up. San Miguel finished with more rebounds, 54-49, more bench points, 29-14, more paint points, 38-24 and more three-pointers, 10-4 but couldn’t play the pace that brought the Beermen to No. 1 in the standings. Ginebra turned it into a drag-out battle of attrition with coach Tim Cone relying on execution on both ends to win.

Although TNT and Ginebra got the job done to open their series, the war is far from over. In the recent NBA Finals, Oklahoma City lost Game 1 but recovered to win the championship in seven. Expect ROS and San Miguel to bounce back with a vengeance in Game 2 at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium tonight.