The TNT Tropang Giga have been strong all conference, but these two sister teams have engaged in a gritty series. We’ll if it goes the distance.

Catch this game live on Tuesday, October 1st, at 7:30 pm, Manila time.

TNT Tropang Giga (2-1)

Projected Starting Five:

• Rey Nambatac
• RR Pogoy
• Kim Aurin
• Rondae Hollis-Jefferson
• Kelly Williams

TNT won Game 3 to the tune of 107-91. The Tropa used scattered attack to get the job done, as well as fine outside shooting courtesy of 15 treys on a 45.5% clip.

With Rondae Hollis-Jefferson casually dropping his usual numbers: 27 points, 12 rebounds, and eight assists on an iffy 8-of-21 shooting, the locals backed him by having plenty of serviceable help. Calvin Oftana scored 18, while Rey Nambatac and Glenn Khobuntin netted 17 each (this trio sank 10 of the team’s 15 threes). Veteran Kelly Williams, who’s 42 years young, came through with 11 points and five boards across 28 minutes of play.

More of the same should happen Tuesday. RHJ will do his thing, and at least one of the guys mentioned above will be the good no. 2 scorer. Maybe RR Pogoy will assert himself after his quiet Game 3 (3/6 FGs, 8 pts).

NLEX Road Warriors (1-2)

Projected Starting Five:

• Robert Bolick
• Robbie Herndon
• Enoch Valdez
• Anthony Semerad
• DeQuan Jones

NLEX got a good amount of momentum following their win in Game 2. Sadly, none of that became present in Game 3, where everything is out of whack. The Road Warriors only shot 41.7%, including 9-of-31 from downtown.

Import DeQuan Jones (16 pts, 10 rebs) and scoring machine Robert Bolick (12 pts, 10 ast) each had double-doubles, but if such numbers are the headliners, you know something’s wrong. Rob Herndon led the team in scoring, and he only posted 17.

Jones, Bolick, and the rest of the guys will have to do better than that, and then some, just to maybe survive. That will be a good deal of digging deep. However, if those two can get it going, especially Bolick, whose barrage of buckets can be demoralizing for opponents, they can steal one more, and you know what they say in knockout games: anything can happen.

But, of course, it should always be just one game at a time, the Road Warriors have their work cut out for them.

PICKS:

Spread: NLEX (+5)

Over/Under: Over (193.5)