Barangay Ginebra and Magnolia meet for a chance to stay within striking distance in the top four race while Mo Tautuaa makes his San Miguel Beer debut against Columbian on Sunday in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Tautuaa hopes to give the Beermen an immediate impact in the 4:30 p.m. opener less than a week after being dealt from the NorthPort Batang Pier in exchange for Christian Standhardinger.
Ginebra and Magnolia collide at 6:45 p.m. in the renewal of their Manila Clasico rivalry. The two teams need a win to catch up with fourth-running Meralco in the standings.
The four best teams after the elimination secure the twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals.
San Miguel sits in third at 4-1, Magnolia is tied with Columbian for fifth at 3-3 while Ginebra holds a 2-2 slate for seventh spot.
Ginebra is coming off a 129-124 win over San Miguel the previous Sunday, snapping a two-game skid while ending the latter’s run of four straight wins to start the conference.
Magnolia is in dire need of a victory after dropping its last two outings against San Miguel and Blackwater.
Import Romeo Travis could suit up for the important meeting after sitting out the Blackwater duel to rest his injured right ankle.
Meanwhile, TNT KaTropa acquired the services of shooter Mike DiGregorio from Blackwater in exchange for backup guard Brian Heruela.
The deal was approved by the league which paved the way for the KaTropa to add an additional scoring help in DiGregorio, who is averaging 10.8 points on 56-percent shooting this conference.
It will the second Blackwater stint for Heruela, who averaged 10.6 points and 5.2 assists in 26 games as a rookie in the 2014-15 season. (Jonas Terrado)
