TNT Tropang Giga unseated the highly touted Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings with a hard-earned 97-93 win in Game 6 as they captured the 47th PBA Governors’ Cup crown on Friday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Tropa recorded their third straight win, wrapping up the best-of-seven series, 4-2, to end the Kings two-year reign as Governors’ Cup champions.
Mikey Williams and import Rondae Holliso-Jefferson starred in the title-clinching victory with the former erupting for 38 points and the latter pouring in 29.
Williams capped his heroics by dropping a booming triple in the final 1:15 that shoved the Kings ahead, 95-93.
TNT then shackled Justine Brownlee in the dying seconds and went on to win their first title since ruling the 2021 Philippine Cup.
Williams, who finished with nine triples, was adjudged as the Finals MVP Award.
Brownlee, who left prematurely in their Game 5 loss due to a bad case of food poisoning, led Ginebra with 29 points. Jamie Malonzo added 21 points, while Scottie Thompson pitched in 20.
Christian Standhardinger contributed 16 for Ginebra, which led by as many as 10 points in the first half only to be outlasted by the determined TNT squad.
Winning its first-ever Governors’ Cup crown, TNT now has nine PBA titles tucked under its belt.
Brownlee suffered his first PBA Finals defeat as an PBA import, while Ginebra coach Tim Cone tasted only his second defeat in a championship series of an import-laden conference.
TNT coach Jojo Lastimosa, on the other hand, won his first PBA crown in his very first conference as a coach.
Interestingly, Lastimosa’s first PBA title as a coach came at the expense of Cone, whom he shared with so many titles during their stint with the defunct Alaska Milk.
Image courtesy of PBA Media Bureau
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