THERE'S no feeling of unfamiliarity when Chot Reyes returned as head coach of TNT at the start of the PBA Philippine Cup.
As the veteran mentor puts it, he never really left the team at all.
"I was never away naman. I've always been with the team, whether in practice or in games. So it was like I was never really away," said Reyes.
After being absent for more than a year manning the TNT bench, the champion coach was back calling the shots for the Tropang Giga in the season-ending conference, taking over his old post from Jojo Lastimosa, who now solely concentrates on his job as team manager.
Reyes last called the shots for the Tropang Giga during the 2022-23 Commissioner's Cup when the franchise failed to reach the playoffs.
Sponsored content: Shortly after, he took a leave of absence to concentrate on his duty as Gilas Pilipinas coach preparing for the 32nd Southeast Asian Games and the FIBA World Cup.
At the same time though, he was named active consultant of TNT, making him present during games and in team practices.
"So there was no big adjustments whether in practice or in games," said Reyes.
"If ever there is any adjustment, it is just getting back to the grind. We call it the grind, the grind of PBA cadence of games, practice, games," he added. "Yun lang naman yun, because that cadence is very different from the Gilas cadence. But other than that, no big adjustment really."
The Tropang Giga welcomed back their old coach with a 108-107 thriller against Rain or Shine in a game they trailed by as many as 10 in the third quarter and were still behind, 104-99, with 3:42 to go.
Sponsored content: Calvin Oftana answered the call for TNT, hitting five straight points down the stretch, including a corner three pointer that gave the team the lead for good, 106-104.
"Just to be very honest, we dodged the bullet and we just caught a break here," said Reyes during the post-game presser. (RG)
