Here are the live scores, updates, and results of the 2022 PBA Commissioner’s Cup between the Magnolia Chicken Timplados Hotshots and the Talk ‘N Text TNT Tropang Giga scheduled on October 5, 2022, at 5:45 PM.
The Hotshots are on a winning streak and wanted to extend their victorious momentum to three in a row while the Tropang Giga is set to make their 2022 PBA Commissioner’s Cup debut this evening.
Probably one of the reasons why Magnolia is blazing right now it is because of the stellar performance of their Serbian import, Nick Rakocevic. At a 6-foot-11 frame, Rakocevic is unstoppable at the pain at least in their last two outings as he dominated the rebounding category. His current average in rebound is 25.
Apart from cleaning the boards, the former USC Trojans power forward also demonstrated that he can also inflict damage in scoring. He logged a massive 45 points against Terrafirma Dyip and was 21 points versus the Converge FiberXers.
Though Rakocevic points production was cut almost in half, his tenacity to grab rebounds is still consistent. That scoring slack was immediately picked up by Hotshots locals led by Gio Jalalon, Calvin Abueva, Paul Lee, Ian Sangalang, and Mark Barroca.
“Nung first game, masarap ang feeling na naka-45 yung import namin pero ang contribution ng locals ang hinahanap ko. This game, nakita ko yung contribution ng locals, especially the key players. Sila naman ang nagdala nung nag-struggle ang import namin,” said Victolero.
Meanwhile, for Talk ‘N Text, Jayson Castro and the rest of the Tropang Giga hopes that the break after the grueling All-Filipino Finals is enough for them to re-energize as they start a new quest for another PBA greatness.
TNT will be sporting Cameron Oliver as their foreign reinforcement who according to head coach Chot Reyes is a potential Gilas Pilipinas naturalized player.
Oliver is one of those NBA hopefuls who responded with hard work after getting snubbed in the 2017 NBA Draft. His skills and efforts went unnoticed and grabbed the attention of the Houston Rockets and the Atlanta Hawks. Though he made a brief stint on those mentioned NBA franchises, he contributed a double-digit in scoring, 10.8 with the Rockets and 11.5 with the Hawks.
With those spectacular figures on paper, Oliver’s real game still remains in mystery and that could be tested tonight against zero defeated team with a high-caliber import.
“We’ll only know how good he (Oliver) is at game time as we haven’t even had the chance to play any tuneup games,” Reyes said. “We can hardly get 10 guys in practice due to all our injuries. We even had to have our 3×3 players practice with us just so we can scrimmage. Pati tuloy laro nila nagulo.”