Things got interesting thanks to Talk N’ Text Tropang Giga’s Game 3 victory. Let’s see if they can build momentum off the encouraging performance.

Catch this game live on December 6 at 6:00 pm, Manila time.

The Talk N’ Text Tropang Giga (1-2)

The real impressive factor about TNT’s one-sided, 88-67 win on Friday was they did it without Ray Parks, their star scorer and one of the top candidates for Best Player of the Conference. That is sure to drive any team’s confidence high, especially in a series where they blew good leads and got taken out in back-to-back games. Parks will remain questionable for Game 4.

With Parks possibly out for the third-straight time, second-leading scorer RR Pogoy will be the main man. He’s averaging 25.0 points per game in the series and dropped 38 in Game 2. He stepped up on defense in Game 3 as well, recording a career-high six steals.

Jayson Castro (13.3 PPG, 7.0 APG), Simon Enciso (12.6 PPG), and Troy Rosario (11.3 PPG), meanwhile, will be the other top options. They have decent numbers in the series.

TNT is averaging 91.3 PPG in the finals.

The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings (2-1)

There’s no other way to put it: Ginebra just didn’t come out to play in Game 3. The 67-point effort was the team’s second-lowest output for more than a year.

The Gin Kings shot a terrible 23-for-65 overall (35%), turned the ball over 23 times, and scored just 30 points in the paint, only half of what they had in Game 1. They couldn’t match TNT’s energy right from the get-go, or perhaps didn’t try to.

Tim Cone’s team will try to bounce back and Stanley Pringle is, as always, the man to watch out for. The explosive guard is putting up 23.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 6.3 assists per game in the finals, still the most consistent player in the series despite the Game 3 dud.

Japeth Aguilar (15.3 PPG, 10.0 RPG) and LA Tenorio (13.0 PPG, 6.3 APG) are the other key weapons, particularly the former, who’s benefitting a lot from the team’s strong guard play and TNT’s poor defense.

Let’s not forget the scrappy, two-way guard Scottie Thompson too. He explodes out of nowhere and can be pretty clutch when called upon.

Ginebra is averaging 86.3 PPG in the finals.

PREDICTIONS:

Well, the good news is for a team as good as Ginebra, there’s no other way but up. They should be able to regain control tomorrow. Pringle and the dynamic guards will punish TNT’s thin paint defense again.

I expect the Gin Kings to deliver a good retaliation, 99-88.