Here are the live scores, updates, and results of the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup Semi-Finals Game 5 between the Magnolia Chicken Timplados Hotshots and the TNT Tropang Giga (Talk ‘N Text) scheduled on August 12, 2022, at 3:00 PM.
The Hotshots will try to live for another day as their road to the 2022 All-Filipino Finals is slowly fading away while the KaTropa wanted to shut the door completely and be the first team to snag the championship round this afternoon at the Big Dome.
Magnolia is known to be a defensive-minded squad but these past two games look like their aggressiveness to clamp their opponent went too high. That could be the cause of the back-to-back foul trouble situation of their key players like Paul Lee, Ian Sangalang, and Calvin Abueva.
“I don’t know what we will adjust but that’s our game, e. From the elimination hanggang sa rito we just try to play our defense but we’re always in foul trouble,” said coach Chito Victolero moments after the conclusion of Game 4.
In their last outing, Lee was slapped with four personal fouls while Abueva registered five. The gap between the last two whistles happened less than two minutes or less. Chicken Timplados’ head coach has no choice but to pull out his two superstars to avoid fouling out early in the game.
“My key players like Calvin (Abueva), Ian (Sangalang), Paul (Lee), they’re always in foul trouble. I don’t know how we can adjust,” Victolero added. “For the last two games, ‘yan na ‘yun, e. Palagi kaming foul trouble. That is the key, we need to play defense because that’s our strength. Kung hindi kami makakadepensa, wala kaming chance dito.”
For the KaTropa on the other hand, looks like they’re aware that the defense of Magnolia is centered on their high-scoring guard Mikey Williams. Though the Hotshots were able to put Willimas scoreless in the first half yet the other players of Talk ‘N Text were ready to take over the scoring slack.
One of them is JP Erram who exploded with 19 points and 13 rebounds. While the player rotation of Magnolia is a concern for coach Victolero due to foul troubles, TNT took advantage of the opportunity, particularly in the second half where they led as much as 23 points.
Though TNT is in an advantageous position as they took a commanding 3-1 series lead yet head coach Chot Reyes understands that it’s still far from over. He wanted to keep the focus of his troops and be at their best in Game 5.
“We just have to make sure to remind them (Tropa) of it but more importantly, put them in a position to come and play their best in the next game. That’s going to be determined by our rest and recovery and preparation tomorrow in practice. We just have to be extra ready for it,” said Reyes.