The PBA Finals are still ongoing. Not at all.

Even after a decisive victory last Wednesday that put the Tropang Giga on the edge of winning back-to-back crowns, TNT coach Chot Reyes was reminded of that prior to Game 6 of the PBA 49th Season Governors’ Cup Finals.

Reyes anticipates a strong comeback from Barangay Ginebra following TNT’s thrilling victory of 99-72, which puts the Tropang Giga in the final stages of a bitterly contested best-of-seven championship series.

Ultimately, the ability of the club to perform both on offense and defense will determine the outcome of Game 6, according to Reyes.

According to PBA statistics chief Fidel Mangonon, history favored TNT after winning Game 5 because 34 out of 48 teams, or 71 percent, won the championship after winning Game 5 in a best-of-seven finals series following a 2-2 tie.

However, if there is one club that will put in the most effort, it might be Ginebra, who are now in a difficult situation after suddenly playing poorly in Game Five, shooting only 32% from the field.

Their second-quarter performance, in which TNT held them to 13 points on 3-for-19 field goal shooting, made their field goal problems much worse.

Reyes claimed that after TNT led 56–33 at the half of Game 5, he had already forewarned his players of a Ginebra comeback. When the Gin Kings began by clustering points early and TNT countered, that almost came to pass.

The Coach said, “We are already thinking about Game Six. We just need to be ready, “We talked about it at halftime and we told them to be prepared especially in the first five minutes for the big Ginebra run because you can’t keep a good team like that down. And true enough, they scored I think the first five points in the third quarter,”

Meanwhile, Calvin Oftana let his sustained outstanding performance speak for him on Wednesday after expressing his frustrations about his touches—or lack thereof—after TNT’s defeat in Game Four of the PBA Governors’ Cup finals last Sunday.

Oftana was one of the main contributors to the Tropang Giga’s 99-72 thumping of Barangay Ginebra in Game Five at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum, scoring 15 points while shooting 6-for-10 from the field.

The TNT pundit claimed that even though he had immediately moved on from his feelings in Game Four, the squad continued to discuss them on the eve of Wednesday’s crucial match.

Despite having 26 points in the Game Four defeat, Oftana said that he became frustrated because he believed he didn’t get enough touches in the second half after scoring 20 in the first twenty-four minutes. The Gin Kings drew even in the series as the Tropang Giga lost the match 106-92.

The team meeting was confirmed by TNT coach Chot Reyes.

“I literally asked him how can I help you, bakit nagkaganun, and how can we help him,” Reyes said.

Oftana, who scored 12 points on 5-for-6 field goal shooting in the first half of Game Five, clearly benefited much from the team meeting.
Although Oftana only managed three points in the second half, the Tropang Giga were already ahead and controlling the game, so they didn’t need his output to win by a commanding 25 points.

The TNT victory in the finals on Wednesday was the most lopsided since Game Three of the 2011 Governors’ Cup, in which the Texters defeated Petron 132-105, according to PBA statistics chief Fidel Mangonon.

According to Mangonon, the Tropang Giga also handed Ginebra their worst defeat since losing to San Miguel 132-94 in Game Three of the 2018 Commissioner’s Cup.