Games today:
(Philsports Arena)
4:30 p.m. — Magnolia vs Meralco
6:45 p.m. — NorthPort vs Ginebra
The chase continues for Magnolia and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel — two of the three remaining teams jostling for the No. 2 spot of the Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup.
Following the latest loss suffered by the Kings to NLEX on Friday night, they are now hard-pressed to win their remaining games, including their 6:45 p.m. encounter against NorthPort, a team that is peaking at the right time.
Ginebra’s loss also gave visiting Bay Area a free ride to the No. 1 spot that guarantees it a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals against the No. 8 seed.
The Batang Pier are coming off three straight victories, the latest was their 112-97 dumping of Converge, which previously played minus import Quincy Miller.
NorthPort is hoping to close out its elimination round campaign on a winning note to formalize its entry in the playoffs and carry a positive vibe in the next phase of the tournament.
Equally important is the game between Magnolia and another team on the rise, Meralco, in the 4:30 p.m. curtain raiser.
The Hotshots, currently at No. 2 spot, will resume their quest to secure the remaining berth that bears a twice-to-beat incentive and they can keep a firm grip of their position with a victory against the Bolts.
But the Bolts had become a much better team following the inclusion of K.J. McDaniels, who had since then led the squad to three straight wins and put the team back in contention for the playoffs.
McDaniels will have his hands full on continuing the Bolts’ legacy of being a consistent playoff performer.
In the last five conferences, Meralco has been consistently making at least the semifinal round, and twice in the championship round.
McDaniels wants to complete the Bolts’ turnaround this season. Meralco had lost five of its first six games, but stayed in contention following the arrival of the returning import, who also has some unfinished business in the PBA.
Twice in his stint in the league, he had been in the playoffs.
He came close to making the championship round of the 2019 Governors’ Cup but lost to, ironically, the Bolts, then led by Allen Durham.
In last season’s Governors’ Cup, McDaniels led the Road Warriors to a second-best record in the elimination round, but had to leave the squad to attend to some family matters while the team had to compete in the playoffs.
