TNT, Meralco and the rest of the field go all-out on Monday as the Philippine Basketball Association 3×3 Third Conference holds its final leg for the 3rd Season at the Ayala Malls Market Market.
The Triple Giga and the Bolts, who clashed for the championship of the previous three legs, try to do an encore just before heading to the highly-awaited grand finals.
But the nine remaining teams are out to foil another TNT-Meralco title duel as they seek to claim the Leg 6 title and take home the prize purse of P100,000.
TNT leaned on Almond Vosotros’ hot shooting in the homestretch to score a 21-18 win over Meralco last week and avenge its loss to the same team during the Leg 3 and 4 finale.
Curiously, coach Mau Belen opted to put the 34-year-old Vosotros on the reserved list this time and banked instead on the quartet of Ping Exciminiano, Chester Saldua, Xyrus Torres and Gryann Mendoza.
Meralco, winner of Legs 1, 3 and 4, meanwhile is back at full strength with the re-activation of big man Alfred Batino to go along with the 1-2 combo of Joseph Sedurifa and Jeff Manday, along with Raymar Caduyac.
After five legs, both Meralco and TNT are in the Top 4 spot of the Conference Tour points along with second-running MCFASolver and no. 4 Cavitex.
The top four teams after the six-leg phase are automatically seeded to the grand finals.
Meanwhile, the battle for the remaining four spots in the grand finale remains a wide-open race among the rest of the cast, namely San Miguel Beer, Blackwater Smooth Razor, Purefoos TJ Titans, Terrafirma 3×3, Pioneer Elastoseal, Barangay Ginebra, and even Northport, which is currently at the bottom of the Third Conference ranking.
TNT, San Miguel and Pioneer Elastoseal crowd each other out in Pool A of the group phase, Meralco is in Pool B with Terrafirma, Barangay Ginebra and Northport, while Cavitex leads Pool C together with MCFASolver, Blackwater and Purefoods.
As it gives way to the Women’s PBA 3×3 Invitational in the morning schedule, Leg 6 kicks off at 2:30 p.m. featuring the first game between Meralco and Terrafirma.
