MANILA, Philippines — Seven years after a viral on-court taunt sparked an enduring wave of basketball memes and social media chatter, two of the PBA’s most explosive personalities have officially buried the hatchet for a unified championship run. TNT Tropang 5G import Chris McCullough publicly put to rest any lingering rumors of friction between himself and local star guard Roger “RR” Pogoy.
The clear-the-air moment occurred during the customary pre-Finals press conference at Novotel Manila, just ahead of their best-of-seven showdown against Barangay Ginebra.
The fan fascination with their dynamic stems from the highly contentious 2019 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals, where McCullough (then playing for the San Miguel Beermen) and Pogoy (TNT) were locked in a physical, trash-talk-heavy championship series.
[ THE POGOY-McCULLOUGH TIMELINE ]
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[ THE 2019 FLASHPOINT ] [ THE 2026 REUNION ]
• **The Incident:** During Game 1, Pogoy was caught on • **The Reality:** When McCullough was signed as a mid-
broadcast sticking his tongue out at McCullough after season replacement for the injured **Bol Bol**, fans
a heated sequence. Netizens turned screenshots of the wondered if old beef would ruin team chemistry.
moment into a long-lasting meme. • **The Verdict:** McCullough laughed off the rumors on
• **The Outcome:** San Miguel went on to win the title, Monday, dapping up Pogoy and stating, "We're friends.
but the viral image remained a talking point for years. Whatever happened seven years ago, stayed there."
With their personal chemistry fully intact, McCullough, Pogoy, and the rest of the Tropang 5G are turning their focus toward an unprecedented league milestone. TNT has climbed out of a roller-coaster season to put themselves on the precipice of a historic record:
[ THE HISTORIC ROAD TO THE FINALS ] │ ▼[ The 8th-Seed Hurdle ] ──► Finished the elimination round with a modest 6-6 record, barely scraping into the playoffs as the lowest possible seed. │ ▼[ The Top-Seed Giant Toppling ] ──► Shocked the league by utilizing their defensive grit to knock off the number-one-seeded NLEX Road Warriors. │ ▼[ The Crucial Injury Blow ] ──► Lost top Best Import candidate Bol Bol to a devastating Achilles tear midway through the grueling semifinal round. │ ▼[ The Local Surge & Finale ] ──► Behind a surging local core led by **Jordan Heading** (who dropped 30 points in the closer) and Pogoy, TNT dispatched Meralco 4-2 to punch their ticket.
If TNT manages to defeat Barangay Ginebra in the upcoming series, they will become the lowest-seeded team in the 51-year history of the PBA to win a championship. They are only the second 8th seed to ever reach the Finals, following the legendary underdog run of the Powerade Tigers in the 2011–2012 Philippine Cup.
While fans and sports analysts are heavily focused on the historical implications of the matchup, TNT head coach Chot Reyes made it clear that his locker room is entirely insulated from the media hype.
| Team Element | Strategic Focus | Internal Perspective |
| Coach Chot Reyes | Dismissed the “lowest seed” storyline as “just noise.” | Stated that record-tracking is irrelevant to the team; their sole focus is solving the high-quality execution of Tim Cone’s Ginebra squad. |
| Chris McCullough | Working through intense operational integration. | Admitted he is still getting perfectly in sync after only three games with the roster, but trusts the local core’s chemistry. |
| The Local Core | Carrying the scoring load in critical transition tracks. | Heading and Pogoy are peaking at the right moment, providing elite perimeter shooting to compensate for the lack of frontcourt depth. |
The highly anticipated best-of-seven championship series kicks off on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. With old animosities officially cleared away and a historic milestone hanging in the balance, the Tropang 5G are locking arms to prove that playoff seeds mean absolutely nothing once the ball is tipped.