Not a stranger to coming from behind, Talk ‘N Text on Friday night forged a rubber match in its best-of-seven series for the PBA Commissioner’s Cup with B-Meg after pounding out a 92-82 decision of the Llamados before more than 20,000 boisterous fans at the Araneta Coliseum.
Jason Castro scored 25 points, 14 of them coming in the breakaway fourth quarter despite hurting ankles as the Texters put themselves on the brink of completing another massive rally this year while keeping alive hopes of a second stab at a Grand Slam.
There were many people who stepped up to the plate and delivered for the Texters, who got five total players scoring 11 points or more even as the Talk ‘N Text defense was as stingy as it could be as evidenced early in the fourth period.
Protecting a 67-66 lead, the Texters held the Llamados scoreless for almost six minutes while dropping 12 points to break away, 79-66, entering the final 5:52.
And that was all that the Texters needed as Castro hit nine more points from there to put the game away and give Talk ‘N Text the all-important momentum for the decider to be held Sunday also at the Big Dome in Cubao.
Talk ‘N Text made a total of 14 triples for the night, including four each from Ranidel de Ocampo and Castro, as it tied the second most total of three-pointers made in the history of the PBA finals.
Only San Miguel in Game 4 of the 2001 Governors’ Cup had made more, 15, in a 106-73 rout of disbanded Sta. Lucia Realty. San Miguel also hit 14 in Game 3 of the 2006 Philippine Cup Finals, which the Beermen lost, 101-131, to Barangay Ginebra.
“At least we made some shots today,” coach Chot Reyes said with a huge sigh of relief. “The only difference (compared to Game 5) was we made some shots today, because that’s the same output that we gave up the last time.” De Ocampo came into the contest without a single conversion from beyond ‘trifectaville’ in the series, and his awakening couldn’t have come at a more opportune time as the Texters fought off being blow off the court early.
De Ocampo finished with 15 points, Jared Dillinger had 16 and import Donnell Harvey chipped in with 11 markers that went with 17 boards and a lot of hustle underneath.
The Llamados held a 36-21 lead early in the second quarter by riding the hot-shooting hands of James Yap and Denzel Bowles, who combined for all but nine of B-Meg’s 48 points in the first half.
Talk ‘N Text ended the half ahead by two after Castro beat the game clock with a triple from way, way out.
And the thing that did the Llamados in was that they couldn’t find anyone to help Yap and Bowles in the second half as the duo were the only ones who finished in twin digits for B-Meg with 27 and 33, respectively.
“They had a really good shooting night, and we just couldn’t get our offense on track,” coach Tim Cone told scribes, visibly disappointed, knowing that momentum won’t be on their side in Game 7.
“They had 30 turnover points. We just had too many turnovers and didn’t get the others involved,” he said. “We need that extra scorer out there.” PJ Simon was the extra scorer that Cone was talking about, with the former all-star MVP limited to just two points in 26 minutes. He made only one basket in seven tries and was effectively taken out of the offensive rotation by the unforgiving Talk ‘N Text defense.
“Hopefully, we could sustain this and find a way to win. Preparation will be all about the mental aspect and shooting,” Reyes said of the approach they will take in the KO match.
This season, Talk ‘N Text has won the five total games they played while facing elimination, three of them coming against Petron Blaze in the Philippine Cup Finals while being down, 1-3, in a similar best-of-seven series.
