Talk N Text brings home Philippine Cup crown

In an awesome display of pure grit and just "wanting it more" than their opponents, the Talk N Text Tropang Texters broke away from the San Miguel Beermen in the pivotal third quarter after being tied at 57-all to win the game 92-85 and the series 4-2.

While I've never been a fan of TNT, the minute they gutted the now disbanded Santa Lucia Realtors' roster and added its National Team shoo-ins Kelly Williams and Ryan Reyes, everyone knew that it was just a matter of time before they win another crown (only their 3rd this decade which is quite befuddling to say the least). Trading hotshot scorer Mac Cardona to sister team Meralco also seemed to pay dividends for the franchise, allowing them to speed things up with more ball-handlers than ball-stoppers (people who need 5-10 seconds of the shot clock to create in every possession).

In the four games that they have won, TNT simply outmatched and outclassed SMB in every aspect of the game. The two losses they suffered really looked more like games they lost rather than SMB won or fought hard for (specially game 3).


Here are some of what I think made the difference in the finals and ultimately won it for TNT:

1) Creators (TNT) vs Finishers (SMB)

TNT had guys who could create their own shot or call their own number on any given play such as Castro, Alapag, Reyes, Fonacier, De Ocampo, Dillinger and Peek. It also didn't help the Beermen's cause that most of those players shared floor time, forcing SMB to pay attention defensively at all times and stick to their man. Problem was, anytime one of TNT's guards drove into the lane, SMB had no choice to help out, giving another TNT player enough breathing room to receive kick out passes and shoot. On the other end, SMB relied heavily on shots created by their point guards (Alex Cabagnot), and once it was established that Cabagnot was a defensive liability-- either being unable to stay in front of his man or not communicating their defensive patterns to his teammates, everything fell apart (thus Denok Miranda's heavy minutes in games 5 and 6)

2) 10-man deep VS 3.5

TNT's advantage in sheer manpower was in full display this series, with their first five being able to sustain a level of energy we've only seen other teams do in crunch times of close games. This is largely in part to them knowing that whenever someone needs to sit down, a player of equal or close enough caliber is bound to come in. Carey for Peek, Fonacier/Aban for Reyes, Castro for Alapag, and so on. For SMB, it was just Santos, Washington and halves of Cabagnot, Ildefonso and Racela.

3) Defense

What I've grown to appreciate about TNT this season is their new-found blue collar approach to things. They no longer have that aura of self-entitlement (trading away Mac Cardona probably helped lessen that), and play all-out, gritty basketball (behind guys like Carey, Williams, Reyes, Aban and seldom used guys like Rich Alvarez, Aaron Aban and Mark Yee). They don't really play much zone, just straight-up man to man defense and closing out on shooters when need be (again, having fresh legs on defense because of their deep rotation helps). More Boston (man to man) than Dallas (zone).

4) Champion players VS household names

Thanks to their Ginebra/ national tv pedigree, fans are more familiar with the Paul Artadis, Sunday Salvacions, Joseph Yeos and anyone of SMBs resident veterans rather than TNT's mildly hated team (where only Jimmy Alapag is loved). But under the microscope, you could see that TNT has the more accomplished/ well decorated team. Alapag, Reyes, Williams and even De Ocampo have all won titles and represented the country, Peek has always been a solid playoffs performer back to his Pop Cola days, while guys like Fonacier, Aban and Yee are all established collegiate champs/ superstars. At camp SMB, they have guys with the hardware-- but are either too old, or unused to contribute heavily on the floor.

5) Point guard woes for SMB

TNT knew who the PG was at all times. Jimmy Alapag ran the show, and in the event that he was either on the bench or had that "I'll shoot your fucking faces off with deep threes you think I won't make" mentality, Reyes called it. Then Castro, then Dillinger. While their styles aren't exactly mirror images of one another (Alapag- deep threes, Castro-slasher, Reyes- a little bit of everything, Dillinger-slasher), one thing was definitely for sure: they all set the tone for TNT which was to simply push the basketball and attack. For SMB, it was more confusing. Cabagnot wins everything on style points. On offense. Racela still has some of the wisdom, but none of the legs meant for 48 minute games. Artadi has always been too fast for his own good (perhaps now that Racela has retired, he could concentrate full time on making sure Artadi blossoms into his heir apparent and not Bal David's). And Denok Miranda is a genius on communicating to his team on defense, but is too slow to react to a fast-paced game on offense. Whenever SMB changed point guards, you just knew that things were bound to fall apart. Their players had to adjust quickly-- which they couldn't, to fit to their PGs. When Cabagnot is around, SMB looked so fluid on offense (never mind the defense). When it was Artadi's turn, everyone was running. Racela's a hybrid of both. Miranda-- well, they call isolation for the best iso player on the floor with him (Washington in game 6).

6) Coaching battle

Was SMB head coach Ato Agustin overwhelmed with the PBA style? Probably. But he did have a platoon of established, champion or veteran coaches behind him (though I'd love to listen in on his conversations with the UAAP's "King of Quotable Quotes" Pido Jarencio) plus he led SMB team to a first place finish after the eliminations so that has to count for something. It just so happened that the other guy (TNT's Chot Reyes) had more horses to race with, all in great condition. Agustin made the prerequisite adjustments in games 3 and 4 that definitely caught TNT off-guard. There was the insertion in the starting line-up of energy guy Artadi and more offense up front with Danny Ildefonso, then the regulation of his star players' minutes (which he didn't manage as well in the first two games). In lay man's terms, naubusan lang talaga ng bala.

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