The NLEX Road Warriors have an excellent opportunity to climb back to .500 with a date with the struggling TNT Tropang Giga this Wednesday. But will the Tropang Giga pull off a stunner and take down their sister team?
Catch this game live on Wednesday, July 26at 7:30 pm, Manila time.
NLEX Road Warriors (4-5)
Projected Starting Five:
- G: Matt Nieto
- G: Philip Paniamogan
- G: Clint Doliguez
- PF: Sean Anthony
- C: Benedict Adamos
After suffering a 96-83 loss to the Meralco Bolts on July 12, the Road Warriors made a return to the win column by feasting on the Converge FiberXers’ poor defense in a 112-104 victory last Friday. The pair of Don Trollano and Kevin Alas keyed the NLEX victory over Converge, as they came off the bench and fired 26 and 25 points, respectively.
Meanwhile, Sean Anthony led all Road Warriors starters with 23 points. Trollano and the Road Warriors could continue their high-scoring ways this Wednesday against TNT’s porous defense that is being consistently taken advantage of by teams in the PBA on Tour. The Road Warriors are one of only three teams averaging at least 100 points per game (106.0), with Trollano leading the squad with 16.2 points per contest.
TNT Tropang Giga (1-8)
Projected Starting Five:
- PG: JD Tungcab
- SG: Paul Varilla
- SF: Carl Bryan Cruz
- PF: Glenn Khobuntin
- C: Dave Marcelo
Just when it looked like the Tropang Giga had finally found the formula to winning games in the PBA on Tour when they defeated the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel on July 21, TNT tasted defeat once again last Sunday when they got taken down by the Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters, 111-91. It was hard for the Tropang Giga to come away with a win against Phoenix, particularly because Glenn Khobuntin was the only TNT player who showed real signs of life on offense.
Khobuntin scored 25 points to lead the Tropang Giga, while none of his teammates mustered more than six points. So far in the tournament, Khobuntin is leading the Tropang Giga with 24.0 points on 47 percent shooting from the field. Despite their putrid overall performance in the PBA on Tour, TNT still has the potential to shock its sister team this Wednesday. For one, the NLEX’s defense might have shown some cracks when it let Converge shoot 52% from inside the arc and knock down 17 3-pointers.
PREDICTION:
Spread: NLEX (-4.5) covers the spread.
Over/Under: The total (190.0) hits the Under.
