TALK 'N TEXT, PETRON START GRUDGE SERIES ON JAN. 5

source: pba.ph

The Law of Averages favors the Petron Blaze Boosters. But in a long drawn-out series like the PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven semifinals where fortunes rise and ebb with each passing game and surprises fade against precision planning and wartime strategy, percentages hardly matter.

The Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters, who preach the gospel of preparation and execution from the pulpit, are hoping that will be the rule, not the exception, in their Final Four showdown starting Jan. 5 at the Cuneta Astrodome.

Both times in the elimination round, the hobbled Texters took the measure of the Boosters, beating them on Oct. 28 with a decimated lineup, 96-86, and again on Dec. 6 when Japeth Aguilar came off the bench to complete an improbable 3-point play and hand his team a heart-stopping 80-78 victory.

The first time out, Jared Dillinger and Ryan Reyes each scored 21 points, Japeth Aguilar added 20 and 14 rebounds, and Ali Peek 12 points in a one-sided contest where TNT led by as many as 17 and found no need for Jimmy Alapag, Ranidel de Ocampo and Harvey Carey.

The second win went through a wringer and was forged with Alapag still sitting out the game and dervish Jayson Castro joining him later on the bench.

Trailing, 78-76, following a 3-point play by Petron's Alex Cabagnot with 12.8 seconds left, Talk ‘N Text stayed alive when Carey took control after a miss by teammate Shawn Weinstein and was fouled, hitting the front end of his free throws.

He muffed the second but Aguilar, inserted just in time for a heroic moment, grabbed the rebound, put it back, got fouled and hit the bonus free throw to snatch victory from the grip of defeat.

“We showed how big our heart is,” TNT coach Chot Reyes said after the game that gave them a twice-to-beat advantage and the No. 2 ranking (behind B-Meg) in the playoffs. “We were playing minus five mainstays. Then we lost Jimmy Alapag and Jayson Castro. But in the end, it was all about guts.”

It was that heart and their guts which bailed them out against No. 7 Barako Bull in the quarterfinals – not to mention Jayson Castro.

Falling behind, 46-30, early in the second half, Talk ‘N Text came charging back to level at 79-all before Castro capped his 14-point fourth quarter and 32-point overall performance by beating Energy’s Dylan Ababou to the basket with 5.3 seconds left for the winning shot.

"It was important for us to win this because we needed the long rest," said Reyes. "It was the
driving motivation for us, to get that long rest. Fortunately, we got it.”

That rest should serve TNT in good stead against the team that denied them the Grand Slam in the third conference last season.

Petron needed two tough games to put away the Meralco Bolts in their best-of-3 mini-series, taking the opener, 91-84, on Dec. 16 before clinching a Final Four berth, 80-64, on Dec. 21.

And now the stage is set for the finals before the finals, with revenge a motivating factor and the desire for dominion over the other their driving force.

TNT beat Petron (then still known as San Miguel Beer) in six games in the 2010 Philippine Cup, but the Boosters returned the favor in harsher fashion, torpedoing in the Governors Cup the Texters’ bid to join three other ballclubs – Crispa (1976, ’83), Alaska (’86) and San Miguel (’89) – in the elite circle of Grand Slam champions.

With a 2-0 advantage in their head-to-head this year, the Texters can climb back to contention for a Triple Crown finish by stepping over the ruins of the Boosters' campaign in their titanic seven-game clash. But that could be easier said than done.

Ato Agustin, the Petron coach, yields this much to the Texters.

“Tingin ko dehado kami sa series na ‘to; dalawang talo kami sa eliminations e,” he said. “Kailangan ng double effort from our big men, at extra hard work din sa transition defense dahil takbo ng takbo ang kalaban e. Pero paghahandaan namin don.”

That vow is cause for some sleepless nights in the TNT camp, knowing that history at times repeats itself.

Game One is on Jan. 5, and that should provide a glimpse of what to expect the rest of the way – a Talk ‘N Text team out to settle a score or a Petron squad eager to again rub it in.

How much success Petron will have in it’s defensive strategy to slow down the Texters' running game should determine the direction the series will go -- which could be another seven-game epic.