The Final Score: Like clockwork, Talk ‘N Text is back in the PBA Finals

Someday, this absurd Talk ‘N Text winning run will stop. Eventually, they will become average. Maybe one of these days, they will even feel what the Washington Wizards feel. Goodbye to constant Finals appearances. Farewell to the good times. Who knows? It could happen.

 

But as in most matters designed to undermine TNT basketball, it could all be wishful thinking. Asa pa. Sometimes, I wonder if I, too, suffer from a little bit of TNT-nitis. When you’re having too much of something, like lechon, eventually you’ll need or want to stop. Time-out muna. Doctor’s orders. Maiba naman.

 

You might have felt the urge too. When it’s TNT versus Team X, you feel like rooting for Team X because it’s the more adventurous thing to do. It’s not so much a basketball version of crab mentality. It’s more like choosing Tropical Hut over Jollibee every now and then. It’s the impulse to change things up. [Related: Rain or Shine's 'barya-barya boys' promise to be relentless versus 'favored' Talk 'N Text]

 

Perhaps you seek a certain edge, to be brave enough to pick anyone except TNT. You want to show the other guys that you know something they don’t. Or that you have a third eye. Face it: picking TNT to win the PBA Philippine Cup in six games doesn’t make you a wild man. It makes you a believer in the safe bet. Guys, it is Talk ‘N Text.

 

They’re alarmingly efficient, like Navy Seals.

 

They don’t wallow in superfluous drama, real or imagined.

 

They’re not the Los Angeles Clippers because we’re not sure if the Clippers can go all the way.

 

They’re not the Los Angeles Lakers because, well, alam niyo na yun.

 

I hope I don’t regret saying this but TNT is the closest thing there is to a perfect PBA team. They share the ball. They play hard. They have experience. They have confidence. No, I’m not doing a reverse-jinx because I don’t think such voodoo will work on Talk ‘N Text anyway. I dare to say it because, annoyingly, they’re good and, incredibly, they’re good almost all the time.

 

In a recent FTW episode, I picked Rain or Shine to win the PBA Philippine Cup over Talk ‘N Text in seven games. I’m bad at predictions because like 98 percent of humanity, I have no predictive superpowers. So believe me, my forecast carries little weight. It just sounds like a gutsy call to make.

 

In the same manner, I’ve written more stuff about other teams during this conference. I think it’s a form of muscle memory. Some teams make headlines at the beginning or the middle of the conference. TNT often makes headlines towards the end of a tournament.

 

Perhaps I’m showing symptoms of TNT-nitis. We’ve seen it happen too many times. The more pressure there is, the better they play. The closer the game, the more reliable they become. I believe Rain or Shine can win. But this is the Philippine Cup Finals. It’s Talk ‘N Text: they’re aiming to win a third consecutive Philippine Cup. And no one is surprised. -- GMA News