Understanding that TNT has yet to play its best basketball should be the only takeaway from the team's initial three games in the 2021 PBA Philippine Cup.
An unblemished start to an elimination round that runs as short as 11 games is always a welcome development - and one that's crucial, regardless of the quality of wins - but the manner in which the Tropang Giga carved out these victories has not been pretty, as the offense under returning head coach Chot Reyes has labored for the most part.
There seems to be little gripe about the good yet uneven start, though, mainly because Reyes and his team continues to keep a long-term approach rooted on taking it one step at a time. A certain level of patience has been maintained, and it doesn't seem like that will wane anytime soon.
Having said that, TNT's strengths and flaws were clear as day before the forced suspension of the All-Filipino Conference. Here's a look at both.
(Editor's note: Numbers are courtesy of Stats by Ryan on DribbleMedia.com, a collection of advanced stats for the PBA that uses up-to-date totals and formulas from both NBA.com/Stats and Basketball Reference, as well as other independent hoops websites.)
The Good: Troy Rosario is recovering quite nicely
Rosario could not get into a groove at all last year. After a 2019 season that saw him post new career-high averages in points and shooting percentage, the former National University star took a step back and endured an extended slump inside last year's Philippine Cup "bubble" in Pampanga.
In 17 games for the runner-up Tropang Giga, Rosario logged 10.9 points on 35.6 percent shooting, 7.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 30.7 minutes. The strengths, particularly on the rebounding side, still popped out - he grabbed 21.5 percent of opposing team's misses, ninth in the league - but they didn't do much to mask the deficiencies.
Rosario didn't get to the free throw line much and hit just 63.3 percent on the few attempts (2.2) that he shot. A significant portion of his shots came from deep, where he fired 4.3 a game, but he was hardly effective, as he buried only 24.2 percent of his tries - the second-lowest mark among 36 players who took more than four a game.
Now let's fast forward to 2021, where Rosario appears to have put the struggles of the past behind him. A three-game sample size isn't enough to say anything with certainty, but the early returns have been positive: a team-high 14.0 points on 50 percent shooting, and 10.7 rebounds (fourth in the league) in 29.5 minutes.
His solid 54.4 true shooting percentage - a measure of total shooting efficiency accounting for the cumulative value of field goals, three-pointers, and free throws - is 12 percentage points better than last year and lends itself to a tweak in his offensive role.
"Simple: I just told him we don't need him to be the next RDO (Ranidel de Ocampo). We need him to be the first Troy Rosario," Reyes reiterated to ESPN5 in discussing the 6-foot-8 forward's recovery. "I don't know if it's confidence as much as it is maturity and mindset. Perhaps the former was brought about by the latter."
Rosario appears to have taken Reyes' advice to heart, as he cut down his three-point attempts (only 2.7 so far) in favor of more efficient looks in the restricted area. He has only put up eight triples in the first three games this conference - 11 less than what he took during the same span in 2020.
The four-time All-Star is capable of creating his own offense through post-ups, but most of his shots this conference have been assisted, as he hangs mostly in the dunker's spot - the area just outside the paint and along the baseline - or in the restricted area itself. He darts with purpose to get to his spots and has effectively fed off of other teammates, who break down the defense before dropping it off to a ready Rosario down low.
Suffice to say, he's been efficient on those looks. After shooting 42.2 percent on 2s last year - way below league average - he's up to 62.5 percent so far, third among players who have taken at least 10 shots a game this conference.
Hanging around the basket means he's bound to get fouled more often, and that has reflected in his free throw attempts - a team-high 5.0 foul shots. (Rosario has only made 60 percent, though.)
The Not-So-Good: The offense isn't there yet
The famed TNT powerhouse offense has yet to make an appearance this conference, as Reyes' wards are only scoring 83 points (ninth). The team is also by far the worst shooting team from long range (22.2 percent), though to be fair, they've only taken the seventh-most shots and are generally shooting fine relative to competition (39.3 percent is sixth).
Surprisingly, you can't say the offense is completely bad. The Tropang Giga are a hair under league average in terms of offensive rating (95.7, sixth) because they shoot tremendously well inside the arc (49.7 percent, second-best) and they get a lot of assisted shots (21 dimes a game are a league-high).
"I don't think we've yet seen a team lead the league in assists while being last in three-point percentage. Go figure," Reyes quipped.
The men in charge of the offense have gotten off to cold starts. Jayson Castro is still an incredibly steady floor general (6.7 assists are a league-high), but he's only put up 12.0 points on 38.7 percent shooting; Roger Pogoy isn't any better with 12 on 39.5 percent from the field.
Both Pogoy and Castro, curiously, have hit only 8 percent of their threes; Pogoy is attempting only four a game from long range after attempting the second-most on a per-game basis last year at 7.7.
Reyes, however, is hardly perturbed.
"It's pretty simple: teams are keying on them and they know how to defend them already. We see this as a positive because we're finding ways to win while shooting terribly," the eight-time champion coach explained.
"We're a work in progress, focused only on getting better," he continued. "The patience is in looking only at what's in front of us because we can't look beyond when we don't even know who we're playing the next game."
What to Watch: Will the defense stay firm?
TNT has been great on paper defensively, where it has held opponents to just 76 points (second-lowest) on 36.6 percent shooting (fourth-lowest) - including just 43.5 percent on 2s and 25 percent on 3s, both the third-lowest marks.
Add these numbers on top of their steal figures (9.3) and opponent turnovers (17.3, third-most), and it all equates to the best defensive rating in the league right now at 87.6.
A lot of the success has been due to the personnel signed by TNT in the offseason, according to Reyes.
"Just by looking at our pickups, you can see how intentional we were in shoring up on D -[Glenn] Khobuntin, [Brian] Heruela, [Ping] Exciminiano, [Dave] Marcelo, [Kelly] Williams. Not one of them is an 'offense' player," he commented.
There's just one caveat to their success on that end: the Tropang Giga have yet to face a truly elite offensive team. TNT's wins have come against subpar 2021 offenses in Terrafirma (ninth in offensive rating), Phoenix (10th) and Rain or Shine (11th).
Asked if he believes the defense will hold up once TNT faces some of the league's marquee teams later on, Reyes said it's not really something he's thinking about.
"Good question. I guess we'll find out when we play the 'big boys,'" he noted. "The sample size is small, that's why we're not making a big deal out of it. We're just working on improving. We're not even thinking about it."
"What I like instead is how we've found ways to win while shooting terribly. Having said that, it's much too early in the season that's been very unpredictable, to say the least. So all we can do is focus on the things within our control," Reyes closed.