Better late than never as Rosario finally breaks out of slump

The TNT Tropang Giga were penciled in as one of the deepest teams in the 2020 PBA Philippine Cup, if not the deepest, and for good reason.

However, that seemed far from the case in the midst of the bubble playoffs as Troy Rosario was largely missing for most of the team’s must-win games.

But that streak of futility may finally be over under the bright lights of the finals as the star forward muscled his way to an efficient 15-point outing with a 7-of-9 clip from the field.

And this scoring punch couldn’t have arrived at a better time as TNT demolished Barangay Ginebra, 88-67, for the Game 3 breakthrough win.

“Troy and [Poy] Erram, ever since, talagang binibigay namin lahat ng kumpiyansa sa kanila. Siguro medyo pressured lang yung dalawa, and ngayon lang lumabas, which is very important,” said head coach Bong Ravena in the post-game presser.

(We have boosted Troy and Poy’s confidence ever since. Maybe they’re just pressured, and their true games only showed up now, which is very important.)

Like Rosario, Erram himself had a solid outing with 12 points and a game-high 14 rebounds after multiple mediocre outings alongside his front court partner.

As for Rosario, this is his second straight playoff game in double-digit scoring, but only the first where he shot above 50% from the field since the elimination round wrapped up.

“I’m glad that Poy, especially Troy, got his game back, and hopefully, he can contribute well all throughout the series,” Ravena said.

Despite having 3 straight single-digit scoring outings before his two-game double-digit streak, Rosario deflected all the naysayers, and just put in the work his team desperately needed from him in the playoffs.

“Ayaw namin maging down ng 0-3,” he said. “If ever mangyari yun, ang hirap na makabalik sa deficit na yun. Pasalamat ako at happy ako na ibang Troy Rosario yung nagpakita ngayon.”

(We don’t want to be down 0-3. If ever that happens, it will be difficult to get back. I’m thankful and happy that a different Troy Rosario showed up today.)

Especially now with Ray Parks still doubtful to return in the hard-fought seven-game series, the Tropang Giga will definitely need more of those “different Troy Rosario” games moving forward.

“Siguro yung sense of urgency namin [‘andoon]. Yung down kami 0-2, ang hirap nang isipin e. Pero kailangan lumaban e,” he said. “Gaya ng taon na ‘to, nagsimula tayo sa mahirap, ang daming struggles. Kailangan natin talaga mag-fight through.”

(We had a sense of urgency. When we were down 0-2, it was already hard to think about it. But we need to fight. Like what this year has been, we started out with hardships and struggles. We really need to fight through.) – Rappler.com