WITH an unwavering resolve, TNT completed a dominant ride in the 2021 PBA Philippine Cup, ending a six-year title drought with a 94-79 shellacking of Magnolia Friday night at the DHVSU Gym in Bacolor, Pampanga.
Multitudes of viewers on TV and Facebook live witnessed TNT's return to the throne - the culmination of a great performance set off by their 10-1 showing in the elimination round.
Mikey Williams completed his own epic tale as a super rookie leading the Tropang Giga in claiming the coveted Emilio "Jun" Bernardino Trophy. The Fil-Am spitfire was later awarded the Honda Finals MVP plum.
"We're just so blessed. It'd been very challenging," said Williams, the first rookie Finals MVP in the league in a long, long while.
RR Pogoy, Jayson Castro, Troy Rosario, Poy Erram, Ryan Reyes, Glenn Khobuntin and Kib Montalbo had their share as TNT sealed the deal, pocking the franchise's first crown since the 2015 Commissioner's Cup.
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Williams top scored with 24 points spiked by four treys, Pogoy rifled in 19 and Castro fired 10 in the emphatic Game 5 victory completing TNT's empathic series triumph.
The Tropang Giga took Game 1 at 88-70, Game 2 at 105-93 and Game 4 at 106-89.
In crushing Magnolia's own aspiration, the Tropang Giga tied the Hotshots' record as the second winningest team in the all-Filipino with six championships.
TNT is now an eight-time PBA champ overall - five of those title runs achieved under multi-champ coach Chot Reyes.
Reyes, now a six-time Philippine Cup winner, dedicated his latest championship to his family, the owner and team management and to the fans, and gave much of the credit to his players.
"I have to give it to these guys behind me. They put in all the effort. They stayed together through adversity. It's been a long journey and I'm proud of these guys," he said.
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Pogoy and Erram finally won their first championship in the league, with valuable help from key recruits enlisted in the offseason, including Montalbo, Khobuntin and Dave Marcelo.
The gritty bunch set the tone of the match early.
From 10-12 down, the Tropang Giga made their first big move to take the opening quarter at 21-14, before a stronger salvo shoved TNT to a 23-point spread at 45-22.
The Hotshots trimmed the gap to 14 at the half, 33-47, on a counterattack highlighted by two triples and a twinner by Jerrick Ahanmisi on a perfect 3-of-3 clip.
The Tropa dominated the first half with a 19-of-37 clip (51 percent) as against Magnolia's 14-of-42 (33 percent). Rosario, even with his injury, was perfect with 3-of-3 from the field and 3-of-3 from the stripe.
And the Tropa sustained the fire en route to their march to ultimate glory. (SB)
The scores:
TNT 94 - M. Williams 24, Pogoy 19, Catsro 10,Reyes 9, Rosario 9, Khobuntin 8, Erram 7, Montalbo 7, K. Williams 1, Exciminiano 0, Heruela 0, Alejandro 0, Marcelo 0, Javier 0, Mendoza 0.
Magnolia 79 - Sangalang 18, Abueva 14, Ahanmisi 11, Barroca 10, Lee 7, Dela Rosa 5, Dionisio 5, Reavis 4, Pascual 4, Jalalon 1, Brill 0, Corpuz 0, Melton 0, De Leon 0, Capobres 0.
Quarters:21-14, 47-33, 72-53, 94-79.
