HAIL the new King!
The TNT Tropang Giga ended the reign of Barangay Ginebra and completed their rise to the PBA Governors' Cup mountaintop with a nerve-wracking 97-93 win at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Friday night.
Mikey Williams exploded for 38 points while Rondae Hollis-Jefferson collected 27 points, 13 rebounds, six assists and two steals in a big night for these two brave souls, leading the Tropang Giga to their first-ever championship in the season-ending tourney.
The Tropang Giga won the best-of-seven series in six games.
Jayson Castro, Poy Erram, Kelly Williams, Calvin Oftana, Glenn Khobuntin and even Kib Montalbo put in help as the Tropang Giga outlasted the Kings in a fierce duel and thus completed their Cinderella ride under interim coach Jojo Lastimosa.
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A pocket size from the mostly Ginebra crowd of 13,588 whooped it up as the Tropang Giga foiled Justin Brownlee's go-from-broke attack in the dying seconds then Hollis-Jefferson grabbed the big defensive rebound.
With a foul to boot from Jamie Malonzo, Hollis-Jefferson knocked in the two free throws to ice the win for the franchise's ninth PBA championship, tying the record of Toyota as the league's sixth most titled team.
But it's the first for the team in the Governors' Cup - a championship that was also a payback moment for the Tropang Giga after being beaten by the Kings in the 2020 Philippine Cup bubble finale.
A no-brainer was Williams being named the Honda-PBA Press Corps Finals MVP with his scintillating showing all finals long highlighted by his 38-point sizzler in the clincher.
After a 35-point effort through the first three quarters, William was momentarily put in check, but then came through with his ninth triple of the night just when the Kings grabbed a 93-92 lead on a 16-8 roll.
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Williams' straightaway trey from way, way out shoved TNT ahead to stay with 1:15 left to play.
Still, there were still some bumps including two missed free throws by the Fil-Am hotshots with 43.6 ticks to go.
But Hollis-Jefferson and the gang hung tough to the end and in the process foiled Ginebra's three-peat bid while handing Brownlee his first loss in seven PBA finals.
The Kings enjoyed the lead for the most part of the first half but settled for a 51-48 margin at the turn after Williams almost single-handedly carried TNT back into the fight from 11 points down.
Williams exploded for 26 points in the first half, waxing hottest in a stretch where he bombed away four treys to rally TNT to within 48-49 from 33-44 down.
Meanwhile, Scottie Thompson was the man responsible as the Kings opened their 11-point lead in the second quarter, with the reigning league MVP scoring nine straight points from the 35-33 count.
Brownlee had 18 point and Christian Standhardinger 10 at the half for Ginebra while Hollis-Jefferson had 11 markers for TNT.
The game boiled down to a duel between Brownlee and Hollis-Jefferson in the end.
Hollis-Jefferson emerged triumphant as Brownlee muffed his last shot then the TNT collared the winning rebound. (SB)
The Scores:
TNT 97 - M.Williams 38, Hollis-Jefferson 29, Erram 6, Oftana 6, K.Williams 4, Ganuelas-Rosser 4, Montalbo 3, Khobuntin 1.
Ginebra 93 - Brownlee 29, Malozno 21, Thompson 20, Standhardinger 16, Gray 4, Pinto 2, J.Aguilar 1, Mariano 0, Pringle 0.
Quarters: 20-27, 48-51, 77-73, 97-93
