Games today:
(Smart Araneta Coliseum)
4:30 p.m. — NorthPort vs Phoenix
7:30 p.m. — Ginebra vs Rain or Shine
Barangay Ginebra San Miguel sets out to begin its campaign in the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup pumped up and motivated.
Redemption will be the main mission of the Kings when they step back on the court to face winless Rain or Shine on Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
And for some added inspiration for the 7:30 p.m. main game, the Tim Cone-mentored club will try to gift Ginebra legend and former coach Robert Jaworski a victory as he celebrates his 78th birthday on the same day.
Meanwhile, NorthPort tries to hook a second straight win in the 4:30 p.m. curtain-raiser against debuting Phoenix.
The Kings look for a fresh start after getting swept by eventual champion San Miguel Beer in the best-of-five semifinals of the Commissioner’s Cup.
Scottie Thompson, Christian Standhardinger, Stanley Pringle and Japeth Aguilar will be leading the charge of Ginebra in its quest to end a four-year all-Filipino title drought.
But winning their first game of the conference is easier said than done.
The Kings would have to be ready to compete against an Elasto Painters side itching to get in the win column after suffering back-to-back defeats in as many outings.
Rain or Shine fell to TNT, 107-108, in its conference debut before getting burned in a 117-121 overtime loss to Meralco last Saturday.
Adrian Nocum, who dropped a career-best 29 points in the Elasto Painters’ last match, is bent on contributing more to help his team snap out of its losing funk.
“My mindset is to give a good defense. My shooting will follow if I play defense,” he said.
“Every game, I have to step up on defense, hitting my shots is just a bonus.”
Aside from Nocum, the Elasto Painters will also rely on another scorer in Leonard Santillan along with Gian Mamuyac and veterans Beau Belga and Gabe Norwood.
On the other hand, the Batang Pier eye a follow-up to their 112-104 overtime win over Converge last Sunday.
NorthPort banked on Arvin Tolentino’s 31-point outing the last time out and an impressive defensive effort highlighted by 19 steals to rebound from a 100-107 overtime defeat at the hands of NLEX in its opening game.
Batang Pier coach Bonnie Tan believes his squad is slowly building chemistry and taking on the Fuel Masters is going to be a big test.
“Basically, we have a young team. We don’t have that identity to finish a game, we’re still looking for that character,” Tan said.
Phoenix, on the other hand, wants to prove that its semis appearance last conference is no fluke.
“We’re excited to play. We just need to prove to everybody, again, that it wasn’t a fluke that we made it to the semis,” Fuel Masters coach Jamike Jarin said.
Phoenix was eliminated by eventual runner-up Magnolia, 1-3, in the Final Four series of the Commissioner’s Cup.
Bannering the Fuel Masters are RJ Jazul, Jason Perkins, Javee Mocon, Raul Soyud and Ricci Rivero.
“NorthPort, if you look at its lineup, it typifies a long, athletic team. They’re very young also. Let’s see. It’s going to be very interesting,” Jarin said.
