Next game, they should slow down POGOY.
That's another problem for SMB as the TNT now has a lot of scorers, if the defense is focused on Pogoy, Mikey Williams might explode or Castro. These 3 guards are really great and good thing TNT gambled with Williams as he really is an A+ player like the stars in the PBA.
I guess what's lacking with the SMB in game one is not defense, it's the points or contribution from the usual names like Romeo and Cabagnot.
Everyone lacks contribution on the side of SMB, except for Perez.
Check the boxscore -
https://pba.ph/recap?match=1955885, popular names like Romeo, Cabagnot, and Ross do not even make a double digit score.
While CJ Perez which is new to the team has always played very well with 23 points in this game.
TNT is known for their good defense and it seems that their defense is the key to their win in Game 1.
Those 3 players didn't even get a double digit figures especially Romeo whose top in terms of scoring. Well there is famous quote that says "Offense Wins Games But Defense Wins Championships".
I know that SMB will make an adjustments with this lose and lets take note that they lose even without Williams on TNT and there are also times that Fajardo and Mo are on the court at the same time. TNT has good players and a very experienced coach and defeating them will be hard.
I don't think TNT is known for their defense, they are not good in defense in the past, it's just this season that they have improve because coach Chot is back and he has a great conference with only 1 lose, and that's the proof that he is really good.
Anyways, the series is too far from over, it's just game 1 and we still have more games for sure.
The line is now up, those who are playing to bet on SMB, I guess you should start putting your bet now as they are only -1.5