Day 2 of the PBA Quarterfinals will kick-off with the Talk N’ Text Tropang Giga and Alaska Aces. It’s a battle of squads whose momentum are on differing sides of the spectrum, so it should be pretty interesting.

Catch this game live tomorrow, November 14, at 4:00 pm, Manila time.

The Talk N’ Text Tropang Giga

TNT ended the elimination round on a sour note as the team dropped three of their last four games. The high-powered offense even failed to crack 80 points in two of those defeats.

It’s a cause for concern rhythm-wise but the offensive talent surrounding the group is also not lost on anyone’s minds. TNT has three guys that averages over 18 points per game in the conference – Ray Parks (20.1), RR Pogoy (18.8), and Jayson Castro (18.4). The trio is boasting a great collection of scoring and playmaking.

Parks was sidelined in the recent encounter with Alaska, so Pogoy and Castro picked up the slack quite nicely. The former poured in a career-high 45 points on 10-for-17 shooting from beyond the arc, while the latter notched 28 points and three steals.

TNT are scoring 98.6 PPG in the conference while allowing 92.1 PPG.

The Alaska Aces

Alaska iarecoming in hot. It has won four of its last five outings and still very much filled with its usual team-oriented attack on both ends. In the elimination round finale, the team edged out the NLEX Road Warriors’ top-rated offense in overtime, 122-119.

The Aces’ balanced scoring features five guys tallying double figures – Vic Manuel, Robbie Herndon, Mike DiGregorio, Jeron Teng, and Abu Tratter – and all are between 11 and 16 points per game. It’s an intriguing clash with what TNT has on deck.

Also equally interesting is the defense. Though Aces are fourth in points allowed per game, which sounds like a perfect foil to a team like TNT, they got smoked by Pogoy and Castro during the regular season because they can’t defend and counter the outside well. They give up the most threes per contest in the conference at 11.5 and make the least at 7.2.

Alaska are scoring 97.5 PPG in the conference while allowing 93.5 PPG.

PREDICTIONS:

We should see TNT in their usual form again. Look for Parks, Pogoy, and Castro to be aggressive from the get-go, well-knowing that their explosive, quick-trigger offense can eventually overwhelm Alaska.

TNT wins, 104-96, to advance in the semifinals.