The Talk ‘N Text TNT Tropang Giga is scheduled for a head-to-head game against the Converge FiberXers at 3:00 PM on February 8, 2023 live from the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Metro Manila.
Without a doubt, the fast-pacing squad of FiberXers aren’t thinking of slowing down anytime soon but to extend their winning streak five in a row while the Tropang Giga wanted to start piling more wins as the league resumes its games this afternoon at the Big Dome.
Having a four-game winning streak and still unbeaten in this year’s edition of the Governor’s Cup, many will think Converge is already at its peak. Yet, for head coach Aldin Ayo, they’re just getting started. That triple-double performance of their import, Jamaal Franklin who delivered 25 points, 13 rebounds, and 15 dimes is just like the tip of the iceberg and there’s more to come as the former NBA campaigner is still in his adjustment phase on Ayo’s basketball system.
“We need more time to practice together,” said Ayo. “We’re taking it slowly. Jamaal is doing his best to cope up and trying his best to fit to our system.”
Consistency and some extra efforts after their team practice are part of Converge’s early success which at the moment eyeing for their franchise’s best start at 5-0.
“Sa players iyon, sila nagtra-trabaho. Kami naman we’re just telling them to go to the practice and then gawin ‘yung mga practice plans. ‘Yung mga ganyang performance ng mga players nakukuha nila iyan du’n sa mga extra nila, eh, not necessarily during the practice,” said Ayo. “But we always encourage them to do the maintenance and after the practice nag-i-skills pa mga ito,” he added.
For Talk ‘N Text, on the other hand, head coach Jojo Lastimosa is aware of what’s going on with their today opponent and which in the game they became more ferocious.
“They executed down the stretch, they were aggressive… they were smart about the ball,” said Lastimosa.
Coach Jolas even compared their game against the NLEX Road Warriors several days ago and he may already have some glimpses of what his troops need to do to give blemish to the still perfect win-loss record of Converge.
“I think that was the big difference there, they were smarter today than we were against NLEX,” Lastimosa said.