TNT Tropang 5G survived a late surge by Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings for a 101-94 victory in Game 2 of the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup Finals on Friday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Leading by as many as 21 points in the third quarter, the Tropang 5G saw their lead trimmed to as low as 94-98. The Gin Kings had a chance to come even closer but John Abis mishandled the ball.
Calvin Oftana then widened the lead to 100-94 with two free throws before reinforcement Chris McCullough added another freebie to seal the victory for the Tropang 5G.
Oftana finished with a double-double of 31 points and 10 rebounds to be named Player of the Game as the defending champions Tropang 5G tied the best-of-seven series at 1-1.
McCullough and Jordan Heading added 19 and 14 markers, respectively, while Roger Pogoy, Rey Nambatac, and Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser contributed 10 apiece for TNT.
The Tropang 5G dictated the tempo early as they surged to a 7-0 start en route to establishing a 27-12 lead after the opening quarter. The lead swelled to 48-33 at the half with their outside conversions.
TNT continued their rampage as they build their largest lead at 21 points on a basket by McCullough, but the Gin Kings leaned on their bench mob to trim the deficit to as low as four points.
Justin Brownlee finished with a double-double of 24 points and 15 rebounds, Rhon Jay Abarrientos added 21 markers, while Jeremiah Gray and George Isaac Go ended with 13 and 10, respectively, for the Gin Kings.
The post Oftana powers TNT past Ginebra in Game 2 first appeared on Fastbreak.
When billions of fans tune in to the 2026 World Cup, they will be witnessing the culmination of a global grass-growing mission that has scientists, farmers and turf specialists sweating as much as the players.
From Mexico to Canada, across 16 stadiums in wildly different climates, the continental tournament is putting turf science to its ultimate test. The goal: creating living surfaces that can withstand kicks, studs, tackles and scorching summer heat.
“It’s very high stakes and no room for error, and we definitely do not want to have any kind of fail,” said specialty turf farmer Bert Bos, whose family farm has provided and is responsible for the grass in Vancouver’s World Cup stadium, which hosts seven matches beginning on June 13.
THE CUTTING EDGE OF WORLD-CLASS GRASS
That same intensity comes from Leah Brilman, who has a PhD in grass science and is a senior manager of turfgrass development with global grass seed company DLF.
There is a lot of pride in providing the ryegrass and other seed for the World Cup stadiums in Vancouver and Mexico City, but the first thought is ensuring everything goes right when the players’ studs start tearing at the pitches.
“It gets a lot more complex than people think,” said Brilman, who has been involved with providing grass for World Cup stadiums since the 2010 tournament in South Africa.
The grass varies by stadium. Due to the intense heat in some host cities, a number are being turfed with bermudagrass-based blends.
Temperate cities like Vancouver and Mexico City are using ryegrass blends, which thrive in cool conditions.
SPECIAL GRASS REQUIRES SPECIAL FARMERS
“It’s kind of humbling,” said Lorne Boundy, who farms just south of the tree line near Arborg, Manitoba, about ryegrass seed from his community providing World Cup pitches.
The specific varieties of grass being used are the product of decades of academic and commercial research, testing at research farms around the world, along with extensive involvement with soccer’s global governing body FIFA, which sets the standards and has invested millions of dollars in soccer-specific grass development.
“We put a lot of time and a lot of investment into it,” said Brilman, who ended up as a top turfgrass researcher from her interest in the evolutionary development of grasslands.
“Every generation we improve on what we have.”
That means the grasses used at previous World Cups are not likely to be those being used today, as relentless breeding creates tougher varieties that better fight off disease and weeds, while using less water and fertilizer.
Grass seed farming is a tiny industry. Boundy says there are only a few hundred farmers in his province, producing seed that ends up on U.S. golf greens, playgrounds and parks, and on millions of urban lawns.
There are also small communities of grass seed growers in other parts of North America, like Oregon’s Willamette Valley and in the U.S. southwest, producing whatever their area grows best.
After farmers harvest the seed, which is usually grown under contract with a buyer like DLF, it goes into a commercial cleaning, bagging and transportation system that gets it to its customers. Those can be urban lawn growers, city parks and recreation departments, or sod growers.
SIDEWAYS ROOTS AND FAKE FEET
Bos, the Abbotsford sod grower who produced the Vancouver pitch, said he relishes the challenges of growing something unique.
While local farmers could not help him with this specific grass, which is grown atop plastic, produces sideways-turning roots, and with the blades rising through a brushy, netlike fabric, the Australian provider of the system “walked beside us the whole process,” said Bos.
There are intimidating standards. For example, across a three-metre length there might only be a five-millimetre allowance for height variation. “Everything has tight tolerances,” said Bos.
Testing goes on throughout the development and growing process, including the use of a “fake foot” that presses the grass like a fast-turning footballer.
Brilman said it is not good enough to simply use the same grass that U.S. college football players or rugby players play on.
“They’re different-sized players,” she said, who abuse the grass differently. In soccer, the area in front of goal takes a beating and can end up ragged and pockmarked, which cannot be allowed.
“You put seed back in that area all the time,” said Brilman.
There are tricky challenges for this World Cup, including grass pitches needing to be placed above the artificial turf permanently installed in some stadiums.
HOPING NOBODY NOTICES THE GRASS
The goal is for nobody to notice the grass. Everybody wants to avoid a repeat of the February 2023 Super Bowl, where players from both teams criticised the playing surface after a slip-and-slide fiasco that has become part of NFL lore.
For Tom Rinn, a manager in DLF’s processing and distribution system, knowing that seed grown in his corner of the world and handled by his company adds bragging rights to this World Cup.
He’s looking forward to “sitting around, watching a game, having a cold one with the buddies, and being able to say ‘That’s our grass, that one right there, that came through here’.”
The post Soccer-The perfect pitch is the goal for World Cup grass growers first appeared on Fastbreak.
The Philadelphia 76ers continued their front-office rebuild by naming Mike Gansey the president of basketball operations on Thursday.
Gansey, 43, comes to Philadelphia after 15 seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers organization. He was promoted to general manager on Feb. 23, 2022, and the Cavaliers have won 259 games — third most in the NBA — since then.
He replaces Daryl Morey, who parted ways with the Sixers on May 12 after six seasons as the franchise’s top decision-maker for on-court matters.
Gansey rose from a basketball operations seasonal assistant in his first year in Cleveland to a key role with the Cavaliers’ G League affiliate and to assistant general manager before being named GM.
“Today’s announcement of the hiring of Mike Gansey is an important step in our desire to take the Philadelphia 76ers to the next level. Mike has built a reputation as a tremendous leader and relentless worker who has a sharp eye for basketball talent,” said Josh Harris, the team’s managing general partner. “We are excited to welcome he and his family to Philadelphia.”
Gansey said he is ready to get to work. The 76ers have not won an NBA title since 1983 and most recently played in the NBA Finals in 2001.
“To the fans, this is not a responsibility I take lightly. The energy and dedication you pour into the 76ers will fuel us, and the work begins immediately as we position ourselves for the draft, free agency, next season, and beyond,” Gansey said.
The post 76ers name Cavaliers GM Mike Gansey as head of basketball ops first appeared on Fastbreak.
