TERRAFIRMA ON THE BRINK OF FIRST PLAYOFFS APPEARANCE IN 8 YEARS

TNT and Terrafirma boosted their respective bids for the playoffs of the PBA Philippine Cup after posting hard-earned victories on Wednesday night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

The Dyip edged out Northport Batang Pier in a tightly fought contest, 110-108, while the Tropang Giga battled their way back from the grave and hacked out a 108-101 win over the Phoenix Fuel Masters.

Their victories gave both Terrafirma and TNT some breathing room in the tight race to the quarterfinals. The Tropang Giga improved to 5-4 for fifth place, while the Dyip tied idle Rain or Shine at 5-5 for sixth place with two weeks left before the playoffs.

 

The takeaways on Wednesday’s TNT-Phoenix tussle and Terrafirma-Northport game

PHOTO: Jerome Ascano

1) The victory by the Dyip marked the first time the franchise won five games in the Johnedel Cardel era. Significantly, it moved the team within reach of a first playoffs appearance since the 2016 Governors’ Cup when the franchise still carried the banner Mahindra under coach Chris Gavina and with James White as an import. That was the first and only time Terrafirma advanced to the quarterfinals.

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2) Stephen Holt bolstered his bid for the Rookie of the Year plum by scoring the game-winner in Terrafirma’s win over Northport. With top gun Juami Tiongson fouling out late in the match, last year’s No. 1 overall rookie pick took matters into his own hands and drove inside for the go-ahead basket with time down to the final three seconds. Rookie big man Kemark Carino later blocked Arvin Tolentino’s potential game-tying basket to preserve the win and Holt’s all-around game of 22 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, and four steals.

PHOTO: Jerome Ascano

3) Kelly Williams joins the likes of Marc Barroca and Beau Belga who are having a career reboot notwithstanding their age. The former MVP came through with a double-double of 17 points and 13 rebounds to help TNT rally back from the depth of a 23-point deficit and nip Phoenix. It was the second double-double this conference for the 42-year-old Williams after an 11-point, 13-rebound job in the Tropang Giga’s 92-90 win over Meralco two weeks ago.

PHOTO: Jerome Ascano

4) Three-point shooting remains the strong suit of the Phoenix Fuel Masters. After torching the NLEX Road Warriors behind a sizzling 17 three-pointers in a 112-77 rout last week, the Fuel Masters bombed again from the outside and fired 10 first-half 3s against the TNT Tropang Giga. Too bad, they failed to sustain the effort and were held to just two treys the rest of the way as TNT prevailed in the end. Overall, Phoenix though shot 29-of-65 from beyond the arc in its last two games for a high 45 percent shooting.

2024-04-25T10:06:11Z dg43tfdfdgfd