Ageless Washington provides defensive spark as TNT survives

Like the Meralco Bolts’ Reynel Hugnatan, the TNT Tropang Giga also have their own ageless wonder doing big things in the playoffs in Jay Washington.

After playing just 3 minutes in TNT’s loss to Phoenix in Game 4, the 39-year-old bruiser drew a rare start in Game 5, and played a conference-high 31 minutes seemingly out of nowhere.

Sure enough, Washington repaid his coaches’ trust and churned out an all-around stat line of 6 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks, and 1 steal in the 102-101 escape to force a do-or-die Game 5.

“We need players who can stop the opponents. So it’s very obvious that Jay Wash is really our anchor in the middle who made stops defensively,” said TNT head coach Bong Ravena in the post-game presser.

“Our points, our offense is really Ray-Ray [Parks], who can shoot, Jayson [Castro]. We have no problem with our offense. Basically it’s really our defense that really counts.”

Ravena’s sudden shift to Washington for primary defensive duties did not come at a better time for TNT as their usual pillars, Troy Rosario and Poy Erram, were both basically non-factors on both ends.

Rosario had another one of his ice-cold shooting nights with the season on the line as he laid an egg with 0 points and 7 rebounds in just 23 minutes. Erram was no better as he only had 4 points and 4 fouls in 13 minutes off the bench.

“Naniniwala pa rin naman kami kay Poy, kay Troy,” Ravena said. “Alam namin lalabas din ‘yan, lalabas din laro nila. We’re not giving up on them. Kasama pa rin sila sa rotation. We’re hoping na makalaro sila nang maayos.”

(We still believe in Poy and Troy. We know that they’ll play well eventually. We’re not giving up on them. They’re still part of the rotation. We’re hoping they can fix their games up.)

Thankfully for TNT, Washington took over for the younger big men with a team-high plus-9 during his time on the floor. Parks and Castro, meanwhile, carried the offense with 36 and 21 points, respectively.

With everything now on the line for both squads on Friday, November 27, the Tropang Giga are hoping that their usual stars will be at full strength against the relentless challenges posed by Matthew Wright, Calvin Abueva, and the rest of the Fuel Masters.

But when in a pinch, TNT can rest easy knowing their old reliables like Washington are more than ready to fill in the gaps as needed. – Rappler.com