A SINGLE step does not necessarily mean TNT has already completely turned the corner, as coach Chot Reyes himself admitted.
So taking another stride that should put the Tropang 5G fully in the mix of things is foremost on their collective minds Friday in the PBA Philippine Cup at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.
Standing in the way of TNT's bid to rack up a second straight win and improve to a 2-3 record overall is Terrafirma, which has lost four straight and is languishing in the cellar with Blackwater on identical 1-4 slates.
Despite their current lowly status, the Dyip have actually beaten the Tropa in their first two meetings this season and Reyes is keenly aware of that fact, as well as what his charges must do and the mindset they must have to avoid the upset axe this time around.
"We're going to go back and have a good, strong, hard three practices to prepare for Terrafirma," Reyes has said. "We (will) have three straight days of really good, focused practices to get ready for the next game."
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The multi-titled tactician spoke after TNT beat San Miguel Beer, 89-84, last Sunday snapping the Grand Slam-seeking squad out of an alarming 0-3 start to the season-ending conference.
Reyes said the turnaround started in the team meetings they have had following an 81-95 loss to Phoenix and prior to the SMB game. "We were talking about why we can't do this, why we can't do that in our first three games. Until we realized that we can't go back to the old TNT game because this is a vastly different team," he related.
"Without Jayson (Castro) and without Rondae (Hollis-Jefferson) this is a very different team. So I told the players before the game, let's play our game -with the players in this room, with who we have," added Reyes.
"I think that simple realization worked wonders with the way the players played tonight, with their effort and their fight. I just told the players, let's write our own story," Reyes also said. "Let's not write a story from the past or whatever. Let's write our own story and hopefully this is the first step, the first chapter in that story."
A breakthrough win is not enough to say TNT has turned over a new leaf, warned Reyes. "This is the team that we're going to go to war with in this conference and we have to make sure that we sustain and improve on the game that we played today," he stated.
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"Certainly, it's a step in the right direction, but our effort in the next few games is going to tell if we've started to turn that corner. Like I've said, this is just the first step. We're happy but we cannot be content with this." (NC)
