Games Friday
(Smart Araneta Coliseum)
4:30 p.m. — NorthPort vs Phoenix
7:30 p.m. — Ginebra vs Rain or Shine

ON deck and raring to make their runs in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 48 Philippine Cup are two semifinalists from the PBA Commissioner’s Cup — Phoenix Super LPG and Barangay Ginebra.

The Fuel Masters, who surprised most with their Final Four feat in the import-laden conference with a youth-laden crew, look to build on this as they take a crack at the All-Filipino jewel beginning today at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

First up for Jamike Jarin’s debuting troops is NorthPort, which comes into the 4:30 p.m. encounter already warmed up after a pair of 53-minute matches, a 100-107 loss to NLEX and 112-104 victory over Converge.

The Gin Kings, meanwhile, return to PBA action after getting swept by eventual champion San Miguel in the race-to-three semis of the previous conference.

Coach Tim Cone and the crowd darlings led by his Gilas Pilipinas stalwarts Scottie Thompson, Japeth Aguilar and Jamie Malonzo (moving on from the viral restaurant fighting incident he got involved in last month) and behemoth Christian Standhardinger aim to start positively versus Rain or Shine (0-2) at 7:30 p.m.

On account of their strong performance last conference, the Fuel Masters go into battle with high confidence and motivation.

“We’re excited to play. We just need to prove to everybody, again, that it wasn’t a fluke that we made it to the semis,” said Mr. Jarin, whose team racked up six straight wins en route to No. 4 seeding and twice-to-beat incentive in the Commissioner’s Cup playoffs, where it upset Meralco in two games in the quarters then gave top seed Magnolia a tough challenge in the semis before eventually losing in four.

But one major piece of that “fairytale run” is no longer at the team’s disposal now — the do-it-all Best Import Johnathan Williams III.

As such, the challenge is on the shoulders of veterans Jason Perkins, Javee Mocon, RJ Jazul and RR Garcia and promising youngsters like Tyler Tio, Ken Tuffin and Ricci Rivero to rise to the occasion and fill up the slack.

“We know everybody’s going to prepare hard against us so we have to double, or even triple, our efforts to get a victory in every game,” said Mr. Jarin. — Olmin Leyba

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