Chot Reyes glad to finally have complete TNT lineup after series of injuries

Prior to their 127-107 win against Terrafirma on Wednesday, TNT never really had the chance to use its full lineup no thanks to a pile of injuries that hounded several of its core players.

The Tropang Giga first had to change their import as original reinforcement in McKenzie Moore was hurt with a knee injury just three games into the conference. He was then replaced by Aaron Fuller, who helped them get five wins in seven games.

Aside from the import tweak, TNT was also dealt with huge blows when some local players were on sick bay for the majority of the season-ending conference.

Early last month, Poy Erram and RR Pogoy went down with strained calf and back injury, respectively, while swingman Troy Rosario wasn't able to start the tournament due to an injury he sustained from the previous conference.

Gutsy guard Kib Montalbo, meanwhile, underwent a surgery for a meniscal repair which resulted in him missing a couple of games.

But against the Dyip, the injury-plagued TNT was finally able to field all players.

"I think what we have is we're having a complete lineup finally since we started the conference on the wrong foot with the import that we had getting injured right away," said TNT head coach Chot Reyes in the post-game presser.

"And then we didn't have Troy and Kib to start the conference [and] when the two of them came back, we lost Pogoy and we lost Erram so we are just getting started to be complete."

Almost all players contributed in the hard-fought victory with Fuller steering the wheel with 24 points and 12 rebounds while Mikey Williams led three other players in double digits.

Pogoy and seasoned big man Kelly Williams each posted eight markers while Ryan Reyes and Glenn Khobuntin finished with seven markers apiece. Troy Rosario also had a nine-point output.

But Coach Chot is hoping their latest win was just the tip of the iceberg as they are now gearing up for the playoff round with still one remaining match in the elimination round on Friday against the streaking NorthPort.

A win against the Batang Pier could mean TNT booking a twice-to-beat incentive.

"I hope we're not yet peaking because there's still a lot of things for us to work on in our game," Reyes said.

"The good thing is that there's still a couple more games and I know we're in for a very tough battle on Friday against NorthPort, which is the hottest team in the league now. That's where we will be tested, we'll see how well we play there."

—MGP, GMA News