San Miguel Beer eyes a sweep of the weekend series opposite sister teams and secure victory No. 5 when it faces Barangay Ginebra on Sunday in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Gametime is set at 6:45 p.m. with the Beermen bracing for a difficult encounter similar to that of Friday’s 90-89 thriller against the defending champion Magnolia Hotshots Pambansang Manok at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Struggling teams Rain or Shine and Alaska kick off the doubleheader at 4:30 p.m. with the chance to end their respective slumps.
Rain or Shine holds a 1-4 record after dropping its last three matches while Alaska is eager to finally score a victory following a 0-5 slump.
Ginebra is also smarting from its shock 113-111 overtime loss to NLEX in Dubai last week that saw coach Tim Cone’s side squander a 28-point third quarter lead.
“We expect there’s a lot of energy from them because they’re thinking we’re tired after this game,” Beermen coach Leo Austria said after Friday’s match.
Import Dez Wells and June Mar Fajardo will lead SMB’s bid for another win, Terrence Romeo could return from a flu and Marcio Lassiter may play longer minutes after seeing action for the first time since suffering a left MCL sprain in late-July.
Lassiter played seven minutes and scored two points against Magnolia.
Ginebra, meanwhile, is determined to improve its 1-2 slate, with Cone saying that his players are no longer dwelling on the Dubai collapse.
“It’s over and done with,” said Cone. “It’s happened to me before. We’ll move forward, our players will move forward and we’ll get ready on Sunday for San Miguel.”
Import Justin Brownlee, LA Tenorio, Scottie Thompson, Greg Slaughter, Japeth Aguilar and Stanley Pringle look to step up for Ginebra in the start of its own series against fellow SMC squads.
Ginebra is set to take on Magnolia on Oct. 20 at the Big Dome. (Jonas Terrado)
