Games Today
(Cuneta Astrodome)
4:15 p.m. – Meralco vs Rain or Shine
7 p.m. – Blackwater vs Ginebra
Higher posts at stake for Ginebra, Blackwater.
Rain or Shine looks to bounce back from last week’s devastating loss while Blackwater and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel meet for playoff positioning today in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Cuneta Astrodome.
The Elasto Painters collide with the struggling Meralco Bolts at 4:15 p.m. in their first game since suffering a 107-101 overtime loss to the San Miguel Beermen at the nearby Mall of Asia Arena despite leading by six points with two minutes left in regulation.
Then it will Blackwater and Ginebra’s turn at 7 p.m. with the winner moving up in the team standings while avoiding either going outside of the top eight or fall in the bottom two spots of the quarterfinals.
Rain or Shine is determined to come away with a victory and boost its bid to secure a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals.
The Painters could have more closer to achieving that goal after squandering a 96-90 lead with 2:38 left in the fourth, allowing the Beermen to pull off an escape act.
ROS coach Caloy Garcia is hoping that the loss would benefit his team, even against a Meralco team that has lost six in a row and is all but assured of missing the quarterfinals.
“I told the players these kinds of game will make us stronger, especially with the way we lost, kung paano kami mag-regroup,” said Garcia.
The season-opening conference has become a waterloo for Meralco, which in last season’s version went 1-10. This year, the Bolts are tied at the bottom with the NLEX Road Warriors at 2-7.
Meanwhile, Blackwater is locked in a three-way share of fourth to sixth with TNT KaTropa and Phoenix at 5-4, but is coming off a hard-fought 103-100 victory over Alaska after Roi Sumang came out of the shell to score 19 points while rookie Mac Belo bounced back from a forgetful outing against San Miguel with 21.
“We’ll make good use of this win (against Alaska) and maybe even push the confidence level of the players to the next level,” said Blackwater coach Leo Isaac.
Ginebra, on the other hand, is tied for seventh to ninth at 4-4 with Alaska and Star and had beaten Meralco, 83-72, last Saturday at the University of San Agustin gym in Iloilo City.
Coach Tim Cone believes two wins would be enough for Ginebra to qualify for the playoffs.
“If we can get two out of our last three games, then we will be in good shape,” Cone said. “But then, if we could run the table – get off three of them – that would be fantastic and give us momentum going into the playoffs.
“We feel like we’re still a championship contender, that we can contend,” added the coach who ended Ginebra’s eight-year title drought last October by winning the Governors’ Cup.
