By REYNALD MAGALLON
San Miguel Beer and Barangay Ginebra are bracing for a dogfight in their titanic collision – a showdown seen to have major implications to the Top 2 race down the stretch in the 2024 PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Friday, April 5.
The marquee duel between the Beermen and the Kings is at 7:30 p.m. with an interesting clash between TNT Tropang Giga and the NorthPort Batang Pier serving as appetizer at 4:30 p.m.
Ginebra is coming off a morale-boosting 87-77 win over archrival Magnolia in their Manila Clasico rivalry – a victory that should give the team enough momentum to tackle a mighty Beermen side which Kings head coach Tim Cone deemed to be unbeatable especially with how well SMB is playing so far.
“Right now, San Miguel is playing at a level that they don’t look like they’re beatable but we’ll see what we can do,” declared Cone.
“This one game is truly an effort game for us. It was not pretty. Just a real good effort on defense. We hit the board hard. All of those effort things came out tonight especially in the second half. And that gives us a lift more than anything going into the San Miguel game,” said Cone after the win over the Hotshots
The Beermen, however, feel all the same, noting that the Kings have always been a contender and that they must bring their A-game in order to just beat them.
“Ginebra is one of the strongest teams here so we just have to prepare against them. We have to be consistent. We have to give our 48 minutes of energy for us to have a chance of beating them,” said head coach Jorge Gallent.
SMB, gunning for a season double with its all-Filipino Cup title defense and after the Commissioner’s Cup conquest, remains as the only team unscathed through three games while Ginebra sports a 3-1 slate – a record that is still very much impressive as it tries to navigate through life without star guard Scottie Thompson due to a back injury.
Easier said than done however with Ginebra’s defense set to be tested anew by SMB’s mighty offense that revolves around seven-time June Mar Fajardo and last conference’s Best Player of the Conference CJ Perez.
