TNT guard Jordan Heading hopes to keep up his fine play in the PBA Philippine Cup Finals.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
SCHEDULE: 2025 PBA Philippine Cup Finals – San Miguel vs TNT
MANILA, Philippines—Jordan Heading has some huge shoes to fill for TNT in the upcoming PBA Finals.
The Tropang 5G will enter their third straight Finals appearance with different elements from their previous trips to the league’s grandest stage.
READ: PBA: Jordan Heading savors first trip to PBA Finals with TNT
TNT will have to make do without two of its previous Finals MVPs in Jayson Castro and Rey Nambatac.
Fortunately for coach Chot Reyes and company, Heading has no problem stepping up to the plate.
“I wouldn’t describe what I feel as pressure but rather, a responsibility as the next man up,” said Heading during the PBA Finals press conference on Friday.
“Obviously, we have huge holes without Kuya Jayson and Kuya Rey being out. There’s a little bit of a need to be a creator and I’m just trying to be that for this team.”
Turning to Heading as one of their main men for the finals seemed natural.
READ: PBA: Jordan Heading all smiles despite loss in TNT debut
After all, Heading, a star guard in Converge before his trade to TNT for Mikey Williams, plays the same position as the past two Finals MVPs.
Castro, the Governors’ Cup Finals MVP, had been deemed out for the remainder of the season due to a patellar tendon injury he suffered during the Commissioner’s Cup.
Without Castro, Nambatac played a bigger role for TNT and went on to bag the Finals MVP plum in the Commissioner’s Cup. The former Letran star, however, went down early in the Philippine Cup with a groin injury that left the Tropang 5G to look for their next big playmaker.
That’s when Heading came into play after the Fil-Aussie guard was traded to TNT last May.
READ: PBA: Jordan Heading sees ‘seamless’ fit with TNT
So far, Heading has been doing his thing as the squad’s floor general, even scoring 29 points in the squad’s closeout of Rain or Shine in Game 6 of the semifinals.
“If that’s [playmaking] what coach Chot (Reyes) needs me to do, I’ll do it. Anything that my role is, I’m ready to play.”
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Heading looks to continue his fine form for TNT, which has also missed the services of key cog Roger Pogoy since Game 2 of the semifinals, in a best-of-seven title series against San Miguel Beer. Game 1 is on Sunday at Araneta Coliseum.
