Will Cavitex and TNT take their new-found rivalry to the next stage?
The two dominant teams in the Second Conference of the Philippine Basketball Association 3×3 Season 2 lead eight others seeing action in the grand finals set Saturday at the Robinsons Town Hall in Malabon City.
Each winning a pair of leg titles in the conference, the Braves and Tropang Giga ended up as the top two seeded teams heading to the grand finale where the champion gets to receive the top purse amounting to P750,000.
Just last week, Cavitex and TNT met in the finals of Leg 6, which the Braves won in dramatic fashion, 21-20, to score the only back-to-back championship in the season’s second offering.
The victory evened things up between the two as the Tropang Giga earlier beat the Braves for the Leg 3 crown.
TNT is likewise eyeing to win a third straight grand finals — and second consecutive this conference — after emerging champion in the Third Conference of Season 1 and the Opening Conference of Season 2.
Platinum Karaoke and J&T Express, the two other teams which won a leg title, are eyeing to gatecrash the Cavitex-TNT party as they finished seeded nos. 3 and 4, respectively.
The top four teams with the highest accumulative points at the end of the six-leg meet, automatically clinch outright quarterfinal berths in the grand finals.
The six other teams, meanwhile, have been grouped into two and will engage in a pool phase, where only the top four teams to survive will advance to the knockout stage.
Fifth seed Barangay Ginebra are bunched in Pool A with No. 8 Blackwater and No. 9 San Miguel Beer.
No. 6 seed Meralco, on the other hand, leads Pool B together with No. 7 Pioneer Elastoseal, and No. 10 Terrafirma 3×3.
The pool phase, which starts at 2 p.m. features a total of six games to be opened by the battle between Blackwater and San Miguel.
J&T kicks off the quarterfinals by tangling against the top seed in Pool A, followed by the game between Cavitex and the No. 2 team in Pool B.
Meanwhile, TNT takes on the second seed team in Pool A, and Platinum Karaoke faces the top team in Pool B.
Runner up in the grand finals will receive P250,000, while the third placer takes P100,000.
Limitless App was the first winner of the inaugural grand finals, followed by Pioneer Elastoseal (Second Conference), and back-to-back by TNT (Third Conference and First Conference Season 2).
