Two high-octane games are up Friday with TNT Tropang Giga taking on Meralco and San Miguel Beer squaring off with Barangay Ginebra San Miguel in a battle of sister teams in the Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
TNT and Meralco take the floor at 3 p.m. while San Miguel Beer and Ginebra take their turn at 5:45 p.m.
The Tropang Giga and Beermen are 7-1 won-lost and are gearing up for the favored berths in the quarterfinals.
TNT, with new reinforcement Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, are going for a fifth straight win against Meralco, which won three and lost two games so far in the conference.
Hollis-Jefferson displayed certified National Basketball Association moves by scoring 37 points, grabbing 13 rebounds and dishing out seven assists with two blocks in his debut last Wednesday when TNT routed Blackwater, 138-116.
“I like to look at myself and say I’m like a ‘poor man LeBron’ where it’s about making your teammates look better and making the game flow,” Hollis-Jefferson said. “Then when the team needs me to score, I’ll be able to do that.”
“It’s a little bit of everything—rebounding, passing, scoring and communicating. And defense, too, is what we expect from Rondae,” TNT coach Jojo Lastimosa said.
Hollis-Jefferson made the rounds in the NBA with the Brooklyn Nets, Toronto Raptors and Portland Trailblazers.
“It’s another tough game but we’re ready to play,” Meralco coach Norman Black said. “Rondae was very efficient and not that ball-dominant player.”
“[Roger] Pogoy with 40 points and Rondae with 37, so that’s a pretty potent offense right now,” Black added.
After beating winless NorthPort in a high scoring game, 145-132, the Beermen are expecting to keep their guns firing against the Gin Kings, who are 3-1 won-lost and fresh off a 118-88 loss to Magnolia.