By Jonas Terrado
Game Today
(Batangas City Coliseum)
5 p.m. – San Miguel vs Alaska
Defending champion San Miguel and Alaska meet today in a game that could ultimately decide the race for the two twice-to-beat incentives in the quarterfinals as the PBA Philippine Cup heads south to the Batangas City Coliseum.
The Beermen and the Aces, two of the first three teams to clinch quarterfinal berths, clash in the Petron Saturday Special match at 5 p.m. in a possible prelude to what lies ahead for both teams in the season-opening conference.
Carrying a league-best 6-2 record, San Miguel holds a slim lead over Alaska and Magnolia, which at presstime share identical 6-3 slates for joint second.
The Hotshots may end up overtaking the Aces if they prevail over the GlobalPort Batang Pier last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
San Miguel and Alaska hope to put to rest their respective defeats last week that denied them a chance of closing in on the quarterfinal bonus.
Alex Cabagnot’s absence due to a foot injury once again hurt San Miguel last Feb. 9 and absorbed a 106-96 defeat to Blackwater while Alaska saw its six-game winning streak snap after falling short of a huge rally from 30 points down in the fourth in the 96-89 loss to NLEX two days later.
Winning in Batangas City would give either team the confidence-booster heading into the homestretch of the eliminations.
San Miguel will take on lowly Kia on Feb. 23 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum with June Mar Fajardo out to represent Gilas Pilipinas in the second window of the 2019 FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers before battling Rain or Shine five days later at the Mall of Asia Arena.
That is why Beermen coach Leo Austria is not letting his players, led by Fajardo, Chris Ross, Marcio Lassiter and Arwind Santos, put their foot off the gas pedal.
“I’m expecting there will be a time na may three-way tie sa top two,” Austria, also wary of Rain or Shine, which is not far behind in fourth at 5-3. “Binibigyan ko ng emphasis yung laban namin sa Alaska. This will be the most crucial point for us to get into the top two.”
Meanwhile, Alaska is determined to weather off San Miguel’s charge and win the first half of a difficult two-game schedule to wrap up the elims campaign. The Aces play the Elasto Painters on Feb. 23 at the Big Dome.
What concerns Alaska coach Alex Compton, however, is the way his team performed against NLEX that saw them perform lackluster for three quarters before playing with a sense of urgency in the fourth, nearly leading to a come-from-behind victory.
“I felt the last 10 minutes, they honored the game,” Compton said. “We were getting killed, and they still played their butts off. But I didn’t feel that we honored the game in the first three quarters. So we just gotta be consistent with that level of effort.”
Calvin Abueva, Carl Bryan Cruz, Chris Banchero and Vic Manuel try to lead the Aces to victory.
