PBA Governors’ Cup quarterfinal blasts off at Big Dome tomorrow
NLEX faces Alaska; TnT and Ginebra locking horns
DEFENDING champion Barangay Ginebra and its fellow lower seeds keep the faith as they set out to defy the odds against their top four opponents in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup quarterfinals.
The sixth-ranked Gin Kings face a one-miss-and-you-die situation versus TnT, which enjoys a twice-to-beat advantage on the strength of its No. 3 ranking in the elims.
Ginebra coach Tim Cone said despite their manpower problems, the group led by Justin Brownlee, LA Tenorio, Japeth Aguilar and Scottie Thompson has what it takes to handle playoffs adversity.
“The team is capable,” said Mr. Cone, who’s going through this tough campaign without injured ace guard Stanley Pringle and two other key players Jared Dillinger and Aljon Mariano. “We still have plenty of talent left to do what we need to do in the playoffs. So we really have no excuse. We need to go out there and perform in playoff time.”
No. 7 Alaska, carrying the extra motivation of ending its PBA journey with a bang, is in the same boat against No. 3 NLEX. Ditto No. 5 San Miguel Beer (SMB) versus No. 4 Meralco and No. 8 Phoenix against top-ranked Magnolia.
The Fuel Masters were the last entrants to the Round-of-8, taking the last seat after rallying past NorthPort in a you-or-me encounter last Sunday, 101-98.
“We’re just happy to be here. We respect Magnolia a lot but we just have to focus on things we have control of and that’s how we’re going to execute (the game plan),” said Phoenix mentor Topex Robinson.
“That’s going to be a good challenge. We’ll just go from here and enjoy this moment. Magnolia is the No. 1 team, they’re the heavy favorites coming into the playoffs,” he added.
The quarterfinal round blasts off tomorrow at the Smart Araneta Coliseum with NLEX and Alaska duking it out at 3 p.m. and TnT and Ginebra locking horns at 6 p.m. The Meralco-SMB and Magnolia-Phoenix matchups hit the floor on Friday. — Olmin Leyba
