TNT, NLEX Draw First Blood in PBA Governors' Cup Quarterfinals

The PBA Season 50 Governors' Cup quarterfinals opened on Sunday night at the Ynares Center in Antipolo, and both higher seeds held serve — though only one of them made it look easy. Defending champions TNT Tropang 5G ran away from the Magnolia Hotshots 92-70, while top-seeded NLEX had to survive a furious Phoenix rally to escape 97-92 in the opening game of two best-of-five series.

Hollis-Jefferson leads TNT's statement win

The headline of the night was Rondae Hollis-Jefferson looking every bit the three-time PBA Best Import again. The former Brooklyn Nets forward dropped 26 points — 16 of them after halftime — to go with nine rebounds, five assists and three steals, spearheading a breakaway that reached as many as 25 points, per the Manila Times.

It was only his third game back from a torn Achilles suffered in December 2025 while playing for Meralco in the East Asia Super League — an injury that kept him out for roughly ten months. A week earlier he had logged 51 minutes in an overtime loss to Converge, and after Sunday's win he could joke about sharing an injury with his idol Kobe Bryant: "I took the Kobe thing too far," he told reporters, per the Inquirer.

Calvin Oftana added 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Rey Nambatac and Roger Pogoy chipped in 12 apiece for the Tropang 5G. KJ Buffen led Magnolia with 18 points and nine rebounds, and Zav Lucero scored 14, but the Hotshots never seriously threatened after TNT's second-half surge.

Burton's late blocks rescue NLEX

The nightcap was far tighter. Group A's top seed, the NLEX Road Warriors, leaned on import Deonte Burton down the stretch to repel Group B's fourth-seeded Phoenix Fuel Masters. Burton finished with 27 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and three blocks despite carrying five fouls — and two of those blocks were game-savers, per the Philippine Star.

With 2:02 left he erased Kai Ballungay's close-range attempt that would have cut the lead to one, then with 48 seconds remaining he got a hand on Gian Mamuyac's potential game-tying three-pointer. Burton then calmly sank the two free throws with 13.8 seconds left that finally put the game away, after Phoenix import Marcellus Earlington was whistled for a costly flagrant foul in the dying seconds.

Robert Bolick backed Burton with 20 points, while Schonny Winston and Tony Semerad added 13 and 11. For Phoenix, Ricci Rivero posted 24 points and nine rebounds, Ballungay scored 20, and Earlington finished with 14 points and 13 boards.

NLEX coach Jimmy Alapag said the scare was no surprise: "Phoenix has been a resilient team throughout the conference, so it's expected that they'll continue to play... I thought down the stretch we made big plays, especially on the defensive end, and cleaned up the rebounds."

What comes next

Both series shift back to the Ynares Center on Wednesday, October 28, with TNT and NLEX looking to go up 2-0 in their race-to-three showdowns. Magnolia and Phoenix have three days to find answers — for the Fuel Masters, the heartbreak is knowing how close they came to stealing home-court advantage from the top seed.

Elsewhere in Philippine basketball on Sunday, the MPBL North Division semifinals also got underway: defending champion Abra cruised past Pasay 81-71 while San Juan edged Caloocan 73-71 in overtime to open their best-of-three series.