RONDAE Hollis-Jefferson and his TNT teammates accomplished their mission of keeping their PBA Governors' Cup crown, repeating their 2023 title run with a 95-85 conquest of Barangay Ginebra before a crowd of over 14,000 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Friday night.
Thriving on their defensive work all season long, the Tropang Giga won't deviate from that in this fateful match, making the Kings to bleed for baskets before completely muzzling their guns in the homestretch.
In holding Justin Brownlee and the Ginebra gang scoreless in the last five minutes, the Tropang Giga secured the 10-point win and took the series at 4-2, duplicating their triumphant ride in the last Governors' Cup under then sub coach Jojo Lastimosa.
RHJ, Kelly Williams and RR Pogoy joined forces in a 12-to-nothing closing salvo that catapulted TNT to a 10th title in all in franchise history.
Coach Chot Reyes was already pumping his fist in the air as Pogoy drained a trey shortly after a missed four-point attempt from Justin Brownlee, giving TNT a 94-85 lead in the closing seconds.
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Reyes also nailed his 10th crown, counting championships with Purefoods/Coney Island and Coca-Cola.
For Hollis-Jefferson, it's a second title after a golden debut with the Tropang Giga in 2023.
Personally, it's payback time for this Jordanian naturalized player after his defeat to coach Tim Cone and Justin Brownlee in the Jordan-Gilas gold-medal showdown in the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Celebrating with the champs were PLDT chairman Manny V. Pangilinan and franchise governor Ricky Vargas.
RHJ was a tremendous force as he'd been all conference long, coming through with 31 points, 16 rebounds and eight assists in leading the Tropang Giga in the clincher following earlier wins in Game One (104-88), Game Two (96-84) and Game Five (99-72).
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"It took a lot of belief from top to bottom, believing we can do it, trusting in our process. And everything, all the work we put in, paid off," said Hollis-Jefferson, who fired 10 of his 31 in the final canto to anchor TNT's strong finishing kick.
"Chot said we didn't come this far just to come this far and we got the championship," added RHJ.
Jayson Castro (named Finals MVP), Pogoy and Rey Nambatac provided the solid back-up jobs as they combined for six treys and a total of 38 points while TNT faced tough resistance from Ginebra led by a monstrous 31-point effort from RJ Abarrientos.
The standout rookie was at the forefront of Ginebra's attack as the Kings took a 43-42 edge at the half then posted double-digit spreads towards the end of the third.
They were still comfortably ahead, 74-66, at the start of the fourth but then the Tropang Giga uncorked a 13-2 run to grab the upper hand, 79-77.
And it proved to be the jump-off point in TNT's drive to a glorious windup.
Foiled was Ginebra's bid to send the series to a Game Seven for a shot at reclaiming the title that they had won four times with Brownlee. (SB)
The Scores :
TNT 95 - Hollis-Jefferson 31, Castro 13, Pogoy 13, Nambatac 12, Oftana 8, Khobuntin 7, Aurin 5, Williams 4, Erram 2, Exciminiano 0.
GINEBRA 85 - Abarrientos 31, Brownlee 16, Holt 12, Ahanmisi 9, J.Aguilar 8, Thompson 6, Cu 3, Mariano 0, Pinto 0.
QUARTERS : 21-16, 42-43, 63-74, 95-85
