TNT survived Game 6 with a thrilling 98-90 victory against Barangay Ginebra in the PBA 50 Commissioner’s Cup Finals on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Chris McCullough dropped a career-high 53 points and 22 rebounds to tie the series at 3-3.
McCullough’s four-pointer at the 1:53 mark squashed the Gin Kings’ hopes for a comeback as it reinstated an eight-point lead for Ginebra.
Tropang 5G led all quarters after leading by as many as 11 points in the do-or-die game.
Among the TNT locals, Jordan Heading and RR Pogoy scooped 19 and 13 markers, respectively.
Brownlee vs CMAC
The game, however, became a classic duel between premier imports between Justin Brownlee and McCullough.
Brownlee, who recently bagged his 4th Best Import citation, fired 52 markers in a losing cause.
The two imports went blow for blow, especially in the payoff period when Ginebra leaned on their resident import to carry the scoring load.
Despite another Brownlee night, McCullough willed his squad to victory by drilling two threes aside from his four-pointer.
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Chot praises CMAC
“I guess C-Mac got tired of Justin eating his lunch. Another 50-piece by Justin but C-Mac was able to stay in step with him and I think that’s basically the key,” said TNT coach Chot Reyes in a post-game interview.
“In our board, we put ‘96 minutes’ encircled in a heart. We said let’s play the best 96 minutes of our lives — Game 6 and Game 7. And now, we’ve done the first half of that,” he added.
Undermanned TNT
What made this win even more impressive is that Tropang 5G played without their key players, Calvin Oftana and Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser.
Jayson Castro also limped out of the game following a bad fall.
It remains to be seen if TNT can maintain momentum going to Game 7.
Game 7 is set on Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
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