Apparently, Jimmy Alapag and his Talk N’ Text teammates have not forgotten their unceremonious ouster last conference.

It was like a nightmare. It keeps coming back to haunt them.

Up three games-to-two against Alaska in their semifinal series, the Tropang Texters were one win away from advancing to a titular playoff with San Miguel for the Fiesta Conference championship.

They were so close. Really, really close.

Then the unexpected happened. The Aces took the next two games to eliminate the top seeded Texters and eventually win the championship.

“From Day One this team has not forgotten what happened last conference and knowing how everybody talked about how we’ve fallen short,” said Alapag during a post-game interview after TnT dispatched defending champion B-Meg Derby Ace in Game 6 of their semifinal series to earn a return trip to the Finals of the PBA Philippine Cup.

Game 1 of the best-of-seven Finals will be on Saturday in Victorias City, Negros Occidental.

It will be TnT’s first Finals appearance since winning the Com. Jun Bernardino Trophy in 2008-09.

For TnT coach Chot Reyes, it marked his 11th career Finals appearance and second with the Tropang Texters.

Interestingly, TnT has won the championship on both times it made the all-Filipino Finals – in
2003 under former coach Joel Banal and in 2008-09 under Reyes.

This one looks headed to the same direction.

Everything seems to fall into place for the Tropang Texters since Reyes retooled the team for this conference with a roster that put special emphasis on defense.

“Hopefully we could sustain that defense in the Finals against San Miguel,” Reyes said.

Alapag, who averaged 12.8 points and 5.8 assists in the semifinals, said that since Day 1 of the
conference their goal is not just to be back in the Finals but to finish it.

“The job is not done. To be honest, as great as it feels to be back in the Finals and knowing how
tough it is this season just trying to get here… you know as great as that feels, the job isn’t
done,” Alapag said.