MANILA: Coming off a long layoff, Talk 'N Text returned deadlier than ever.

The Tropang Texters waylaid a seventh straight foe on Monday night, making San Mig Coffee look so bad in an 81-75 victory that gave Talk 'N Text top ranking in the first round of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup playoffs at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

Talk 'N Text held the Mixers to 11 points in the second quarter and to a paltry 26 for the first half, getting balanced contributions from almost everyone to book a twice-to-beat advantage even with still two weeks left in the elimination round.

So dominating were the Texters that they doubled up on the Mixers with still 2:42 left in the second quarter after Jason Castro hit a contested triple from right quarter court that made it 42-21.

From there, the Texters had every answer to every San Mig comeback, letting up only in the final minute to allow the Mixers to prune the gap to a respectable level.

And now, Talk ‘N Text coach Norman Black admitted that it will be a challenge to keep his wards as sharp with their last two games carrying no weight for them.

“It’s never something you look forward to – having a long break – especially if you are winning,” said Black moments later. “I like where we are now – being at No. 1 – the only thing is that it’s too early.

“Now it’s the hard part, we need to keep momentum,” he said. “We want to keep our player sharp. But with the All-Star break coming up, it would be a challenge for us. We have to make sure to keep them (players) healthy, to keep them fresh.”

With a 7-0 card, the Texters can afford to lose their last two games and still wind up with No. 1 seeding since they beat both the San Miguel Beermen and the San Mig Coffee Mixers, the only two squads with chances of catching them at 7-2.

The winner-over-the-other rule will apply in case a tie occurs.

San Mig dug itself a hole when its locals failed to give import James Mays the support he needed, especially in the first half.

Mays did score 16 in the first two periods alone, but no local scored more than three points as Talk ‘N Text sat on a 44-26 lead when they headed to the locker room for the halftime break.

In stark contrast, only one of the first nine players that Black utilized in the first half failed to score, with Ranidel De Ocampo and Nino Canaleta shooting two triples each in the second quarter where Talk ‘N Text’s team total of 25 was just a point shy of San Mig’s entire first half output.

“Coming into the game, we knew we needed to play defense if we wanted to beat San Mig,” Black said. “Our defense held up for most part of the game tonight.”

Richard Howell paced the Texters with 25 points and 21 rebounds and De Ocampo finished with 13 like Castro.

Meanwhile, Rain or Shine roared to a second straight win earlier in the night by routing winless Globalport, 99-75 even if debuting import Wayne Chism seeing action for just 30 minutes because of early foul trouble.

Paul Lee scored 11 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 21 for the Painters, who rose to 3-3 in the standings to claim a fourth place tie with idle Meralco and Alaska.

The Batang Pier dropped to 0-7, their chances of advancing growing slimmer by the day.

Chism, who came in as a replacement for Alexander McLean, finished with 17 points and 16 rebounds despite picking up two fouls inside the first two minutes.

But the Rain or Shine support delivered all game, with rookie Raymond Almazan shooting 13 points and grabbing 12 rebounds and Chris Tiu accounting for 10 markers.

Evan Brock paced the Batang Pier with 25 points and 13 boards and Jay Washington shot 14.