Powerade Tigers and Talk N Text clash in PBA Philippine Cup finals
The Powerade Tigers and Talk N Text Tropang Texters face off in Game 1 of their PBA Philippine Cup finals series today in the southern city of Digos.
The two teams are coming off hard-earned wins over their respective opponents in the semifinals, which were both decided by Game 7s.
The eighth-ranked Tigers continued their Cinderella run by finishing off the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters 107-98 to reach the championship series for the first time since 2003.
Despite being the underdogs again, Powerade head coach Bo Perasol is confident that his team has a legitimate chance of winning the Philippine Cup title.
"If it's written in stone then we will have a big chance of winning the title," he said.
"We understand what is at stake here and the giant that we are up against."
"We will keep fighting. This is not the time that we are going to be satisfied. We have been through tough times," said Perasol, whose wards defied the odds by eliminating top-ranked B-Meg in the quarterfinals.
Perasol has another reason to be optimistic. After all, the Tigers mangled the Texters 131-96 in their lone meeting in the elimination round. It was TNT's worst defeat since 1998.
This is Perasol's second trip to the finals after leading Air21 to a runner-up finish in the 2008 Fiesta Conference. Powerade will once again bank on its big three of Gary David and rookies Marcio Lassiter and JV Casio to deliver. Out to help them out are Doug Kramer, Sean Anthony and veteran bench players Celino Cruz, William Antonio and Romel Adducul.
Antonio was the lone remaining member of the Tigers team that won the 2002 All-Filipino Conference and 2003 Reinforced Conference.
TNT, meanwhile, claimed a finals berth for the fourth-straight conference by disposing of Petron Blaze 92-91. It was a morale-boosting win for the Texters, who became just the third team in PBA history to come back from a 1-3 deficit and win a best-of-seven series. Thus, Talk N Text will have a chance to become back-to-back All-Filipino Cup champions - a feat that has not been done since 1985.
"Game 1 will be a match between two tired teams and the travel won’t help. Honestly, I think they’re fresher because we came from a more grueling series," Talk N Text coach Chot Reyes said.
Incidentally, it was Reyes who last coached the Tigers to a championship in 2003 when the franchise was still known as Coca Cola. And it was Talk N Text that beat the Tigers in the 2003 All-Filipino finals.
"Powerade has a special place in my heart. As you know, I was the one who helped them win their two titles," he said.
Reyes has a star-studded line-up led by Jimmy Alapag, Jayson Castro, Ranidel De Ocampo and Kelly Williams. He also has Ali Peek, Harvey Carey, Japeth Aguilar and Ryan Reyes at his disposal. Alapag and Carey were rookies when Talk N Text defeated the Tigers in the 2003 All-Filipino finals.
TNT, which finished second after the elimination round, is definitely the favorite in this series but Powerade is ready to slay another Goliath in its path.
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