TEAMS TNT KaTropa and San Miguel Beermen shoot for streak-extending wins today when they take on separate opponents in Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup action at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Currently winners of their last three games, the KaTropa (6-1) and Beermen (3-3) battle the Magnolia Hotshots Pambansang Manok (3-4) and GlobalPort Batang Pier (3-4), respectively, in the scheduled double-header.
TNT plays Magnolia in the 7 p.m. game while the San Miguel-GlobalPort joust happens at 4:30 p.m.
The KaTropa are coming off a more than a week break, having last played on June 3 wherein they defeated the NLEX Road Warriors, 117-106.
In the game, TNT got a balanced output anew from its rejigged roster, enabling it to stave off the resilience of NLEX all game long to book their sixth victory in seven matches to date.
Burly import Joshua Smith led TNT in the victory with 24 points and 13 rebounds followed by Anthony Semerad with 22 points.
Terrence Romeo finished with 19 points and eight assists.
“We’re happy with the win. Guys are stepping up and it should only make us better moving forward,” said TNT coach Nash Racela, whose wards are looking to keep in step with league-leaders Rain or Shine Elasto Painters and Alaska Aces, both holding 7-1 cards.
Out to side-track TNT’s push is Magnolia, which has lost in its last three games that effectively negated its strong start to the midseason PBA tournament.
BEERMEN FLOWING
Meanwhile, the Beermen will try to sustain their newfound flow in the curtain-raiser today against GlobalPort.
Defending champion San Miguel opened its bid with three straight losses but has been solid since it pushed itself to the middle of the pack with half of its assignments in elimination play still left to be played.
The most recent of the Beermen’s victories came on June 6 over Columbian Dyip, 129-117.
League most valuable player June Mar Fajardo had 37 points and 18 boards in the victory with Alex Cabagnot churning out a triple-double of 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
Import Renaldo Balkmam had 27 points and 18 rebounds while Arwind Santos finished with 18 points and 11 boards.
“It’s a big win but I’m not satisfied with how we played defense because we gave up 117 points. We must realize that to be able to win games we must play defense, concentrate on our defensive schemes,” San Miguel coach Leo Austria underscored.
GlobalPort, for its part, is out to get back on the winning track after dropping its last two matches. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
