Ryan Reyes is back in the PBA Finals

Talk 'N Text, still undefeated and back in the PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals, is looking at a possible perfect tournament. Can the Texters do it? Can they actually sweep the entire conference? TNT defensive specialist Ryan Reyes, however, swears the Texters never talk about their perfect record. Ryan, who hit 5 out of 8 three pointers during TNT's series-clinching victory over Rain or Shine in the semifinals, says TNT's goal is not necessarily to sweep it all, but to win it all.

MH: You guys are still undefeated. Does it feel strange to stay undefeated and you’re already in the finals?

RR: You know, actually, we never really talk about that until people tell us that, “You know you’re undefeated.” We usually take it every game at a time, one game at a time and try to win one at a time. So we come into a game and it’s just another game. We come in. It’s zero-zero. We start all over from scratch and just play.

MH: So like Norman (Black) doesn’t gather everyone and say, “Okay guys, remember, we have to stay undefeated”?

RR: No.

MH: No?

RR: Not at all.

MH: Jimmy (Alapag) never says it?

RR: No. We don’t even talk about that at all. Even from the start when we did the eliminations and then we swept the eliminations and then we got to the semis. It’s good to be undefeated but it’s not done yet, the job’s not done yet until we win the championship.

MH: So I’m not exactly helping am I?

RR: (Laughs) It’s good to be undefeated right now. What is it, 13 and 0? If we go undefeated all the way through, the better. But right now, we’re just focusing on game 1 and then try to get that win first. If we win that, we’re going to focus on trying to get the win in game 2. If we sweep the finals, then, that’s great. It would be sweet to go undefeated all the way through and win the championship. But we know our roles on the team and we know what needs to get done. Right now, what’s more important is to try and win the championship. Whether we sweep it or we win 3-1 or 3-2, it doesn’t matter so long as we win the championship. That’s what’s most important to us.

MH: Outside of Coach Norman, who makes sure that everybody is on board, that everyone is aware of the team’s true goals? Who’s that guy?

RR: Each and every one of us pushes each other. Of course Jimmy is our leader. He’s making sure that we’re all doing our jobs and everything that we need to get done in practice in order to really prepare for the games. It’s usually Jimmy but at the same time it’s also everyone else. We always pick each other up. If we see Larry (Fonacier), Harvey (Carey) working hard in practice, it makes us work harder even more. Just seeing them pushing hard makes me want to go hard in practice too. It rubs on everybody and everyone wants to come into practice ready and you’re ready to work and be ready for the finals.

MH: Do you guys pattern yourselves after other teams? Do you even pattern yourselves after earlier versions of Talk ‘N Text? Does this happen?

RR: We’re just our own group of guys. We have different personnel from the last championships that we had. We still try to do what we’ve been doing and we’re following Coach Norman’s system now and it’s been working well and doing great. We don’t pattern ourselves with the Spurs or anything. I know people are saying that. But we just want to win. Hopefully the Spurs do too!

MH: So you’re a #GoSpursGo guy?

RR: Not really. My team, the Lakers, aren’t in it so I’m just focused on the individual players in the NBA playoffs now.

MH: What about the schedule for the Commissioner’s Cup, did that help? We have shorter series: best of fives instead of best sevens. It feels like we’re sprinting through the tournament. Did that help Talk ‘N Text in terms of getting wins?

RR: I think so because if the semifinals were a best of seven, we had to win one more game and that’s one more of game of working. So now that we advance after three games, it gives us more time to rest our bodies and all that stuff to get us ready for the finals. That counts a lot too. The more rest you have, the more time your body can recover from all the banging and the beating from all the previous games.

MH: Speaking of the semis, I went on record and said it would be impossible for Talk ‘N Text to sweep Rain or Shine. I mean: it’s Rain or Shine. I felt I would be too tough for any team to sweep them. But it was a quick series and their import, Wayne Chism, got hurt. How surprised were you that you took care of Rain or Shine in three games?

RR: Those guys, they’re a great team. That’s a group of guys are capable of coming in on any given day and making us work. At the same time, we were prepared and ready and focused on just winning one game at a time and that’s what we did. Unfortunately, their import got hurt in the second game and it helped us a lot. But Coach Norman, he gets us all ready, gets us all prepared and the game plan is always on point.

MH: Quickly looking back at that series, if it was a seven game series and Chism didn’t get hurt, would you even think of going for 4-0?

RR: We would probably think about it because we would want to get as much rest as possible. Those guys play physical. I was always banged up going through all those picks. But yeah, we would have still tried to beat them and sweep them if it was a seven game series. And we’re all healthy which is a big thing too.

MH: The health thing, Ryan, and on several occasions I’ve told you that I’m so happy to see you actually playing, I’m even knocking on wood here, but I really want to see you complete this tournament because everyone deserves to watch you play.

RR: I’m very happy. Especially from the last conference I was in and out of injuries. I was kind of sad. I was kind of mad at myself, seeing my teammates out there battling and I wasn’t out there trying to help them at all, doing what I can do. In the beginning of this conference I wasn’t a hundred percent. I was maybe at around seventy five percent. But after each game, I got better and better health-wise. I’m fully recovered and good. I’m actually feeling a lot better now. I’m trying to get back my old self and how I used to play back when we were winning all those championships. I’m moving well without any pain right now. I’m praying that nothing happens so I can go out there and continue to do what I can do and help my teammates try to get this victory and championship.

MH: What is your team’s biggest advantage over everyone else?

RR: I think we’ve been together the longest. We’ve known each other and we’ve played together for how many years now. The chemistry is there. We know how everyone plays on the court. We know each other’s sweet spots on the court. Our chemistry is just great now. We all gel great together. I think that’s our advantage with this team.