The PBA Commissioner’s Cup quarter-finals are in full swing and the first day of the play-offs just showed that fans are in for a treat with high-quality basketball.
The two games went down the wire and were only decided in the closing minutes. Defense was in full display and it was the teams with more play-off experience who came out on top in their first matches.
The semi-final seats remain vacant as the top seeded teams have a twice-to-beat edge entering the play-offs.
NLEX (1st seed) vs TNT (8th seed)
The NLEX Road Warriors are the top seed in the play-offs but it was the eighth-seeded TNT Tropang 5G who took the first game, 96-93. A win by NLEX in the match could have sent them into the semi-finals outright but instead the Tropang 5G managed to force a do-or-die game on Saturday.
The Road Warriors sorely missed the services of Robert Bolick, who fouled out midway in the fourth quarter.
Without Bolick anchoring their offense, NLEX struggled to find their mark, though they still managed to keep pace with TNT until the closing seconds of the match.
NLEX had several chances to change the outcome of the game but they came out empty on several occasions.
The Tropang 5G just proved steadier down the stretch and had every counter for NLEX’s gameplan.
NLEX still has one more chance to reach the semi-finals and coach Jong Uichico is hoping that their experience in the first game will serve as a lesson for the team as they try to bounce back.
With Bolick only finishing with 15 points, expect him to be more aggressive in the knockout match as they seek to shut the door on TNT, who are the defending champions in the conference.
Former NBA player Bol Bol led TNT with 34 points while Calvin Oftana and Roger Pogoy added 19 and 15 points, respectively.
Pogoy was also a key factor in limiting Bolick’s offensive output in the game.
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Meralco (4th seed) vs Magnolia (5th seed)
It was a grit and grind match-up between the fourth-seeded Meralco Bolts and the Magnolia and the latter showed poise under pressure to stay alive in the play-offs with a 95-89 victory.
The Bolts, carrying a twice-to-beat edge, played catch up for most of the match against the Hotshots, and went down by as many as 19 points.
However, with Chris Newsome leading the charge, the Bolts caught up with the Hotshots in the closing minutes and even took the lead for brief moments.
Jerom Lastimosa and import Clint Chapman restored order for the Hotshots with key baskets to stave off elimination and arrange their own knockout match on Saturday.
Chapman finished with 21 points and Lastimosa added 17.
Newsome had 23 points for Meralco while import Marvin Jones added 16.
The Hotshots have been playing very well ever since getting Chapman as their import and his chemistry with the locals was evident again in the first game of their quarter-finals match-up with the Bolts.
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