Jayson Castro remains confident of TNT KaTropa's chances in their PBA Governors' Cup semi-final series with Barangay Ginebra San Miguel despite being pushed to the brink of elimination with a 106-103 defeat Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
TNT battled back from an 11-point halftime deficit, took the lead but came up short as Ginebra got the big breaks down the stretch for a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series.
Castro overcame a slow start to score 11 of his 17 points in the second half, but missed a three-point attempt with under a minute remaining in the fourth that would have tied the game at 103-all.
Import Glen Rice, who was the most consistent performer for TNT with 44 points, missed his own rainbow try at the buzzer, putting the KaTropa in a must-win situation heading into Sunday's fourth game at the Big Dome.
"If you look at the game naman tinalo lang kami by three points, and then last shot pa kami for overtime sana," said Castro, who also had nine rebounds and nine assists in nearly 41 minutes.
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"Yung confidence namin andun pa rin. Alam namin na kaya namin sila talunin, may mga mistakes lang kami. Yung composure namin dapat andun pa rin," he added.
Like most players from both camps, Castro sees an emotional Game 4 after Game 3 was marred by a verbal exchange between TNT coach Nash Racela and Ginebra governor Alfrancis Chua at halftime.
"Ganun naman talaga pag playoffs. Siyempre both teams gusto manalo. Natural na yun," he said.
If necessary, Game Five will be played Tuesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The winner of the series will face finalist in waiting Meralco, which secured the first finals berth following its three game sweep of Star in the other semi-final series. (JT)
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