WITH only a day to recover, TNT aims to recover lost ground when it battles a Phoenix crew trying to make the most out of its slim qualifying chances Friday in the PBA Commissioner's Cup at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
The Tropang Giga aim to bounce back from a 108-117 shocker to erstwhile winless Terrafirma just last Wednesday and improve their record to 7-3 overall.
More wins in their remaining games against San Miguel Beer on Sunday and Rain or Shine at eliminations' end on Jan. 31 and coach Chot Reyes and his charges should even get a crack at a top two finish and a win-once advantage over a lower-ranked team in the quarterfinals.
For its part, Phoenix is most likely out of the race to the quarterfinals due to three straight losses that dropped it to a 3-8 slate. Even if it wins, the best the Fuel Masters could hope for is to tie for the eighth and last quarterfinals spot.
Tournament format calls for multiple ties for the last QF slot being first broken by the PBA quotient before the top two teams playing off in a knockout game to advance. San Miguel Beer, which faces off with sure quarterfinalist Converge later Friday, are at 4-6 alongside NLEX and Magnolia.
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Should the Beermen, Road Warriors and Hotshots all fail to reach five wins, then the Fuel Masters and Bossing, also at 3-8, could both catch up.
In such a scenario, however, Phoenix's 92-100 loss to Blackwater last Tuesday should prove to be a very costly one for the Fuel Masters since they would be carrying an inferior quotient into the potential ties, having also tasted defeats at the hands of the other concerned teams.
Phoenix, however, certainly wants something extra to build on going to the season-ending Philippine Cup that kicks off early April while dampening TNT's chances of hitting its own goal.
That task should be a herculean one since TNT is sure to be even more prepared and bristling this time around after having already experienced the bitter taste of defeat from an also-ran team like Terrafirma.
Also, the Tropa have something to draw from despite the loss that cut short their tournament-best six-game winning streak. In the fourth quarter of that match, they shot a torrid 14-of-22 from the field and pulled off five of their 10 steals to outscore the Dyip, 38-18.
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More help, particularly from TNT's other main gunners in Calvin Oftana and Roger Pogoy, should be coming Rondae Hollis-Jefferson's way this time around.
Hollis-Jefferson scored a gamehigh 41 points against the Dyip but Oftana notched only one out of his total 17 points in the second half, while Pogoy only found his shooting touch in the fourth period where he scored all of his nine points.(NC)
