HOPE IS KINDLED
For the third straight game, NLEX averted elimination with a big win on Wednesday over Hong Kong Eastern that, in the process, sent traditional powerhouse San Miguel Beer to an unexpected early exit in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
The Road Warriors claimed a 94-76 victory over the slumping guest team at Smart Araneta Coliseum to finish with a 6-6 win-loss slate and assure themselves of playing at least one game—either a playoff for the No. 8 seed or a quarterfinal match.
“We thought that we were finished. But the whole team refused to give up,” said Robert Bolick in Filipino after being one of the heroes of the win that assured NLEX of getting to fight another day.
Now the ball is on idle Magnolia’s court, with the Hotshots needing to defeat the Meralco Bolts on Friday at Philsports Arena in Pasig City to force a playoff with the Road Warriors or the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, who are in still danger with their 6-5 mark.
Rain or Shine, losers of its last two, faces TNT on the same day.
As for San Miguel, its absence from the playoffs will mark the first since the 2015 Commissioner’s Cup that the Beermen didn’t make it past the eliminations when they won just four of 11 games.
The Beermen’s exit makes the playoffs, which starts next week, without one of its perennial fixtures, and most importantly, the conference’s defending champion.
Import Mike Watkins dominated the paint on his way to 41 points and 14 rebounds, while Bolick followed up his 40-point, 10-assist game that earned him the PBA Press Corps Player of the Week honors last week with 21.
Bouncing back
Watkins, Bolick plus the likes of Xyrus Torres, Javee Mocon, rookie Brandon Ramirez and Kevin Alas have stepped up after NLEX saw itself drop to 3-6 with a five-game skid.
What followed was a no-tomorrow attitude that resulted in NLEX pulling of key wins over Phoenix and Rain or Shine.
The loss was the second in a row for Eastern, which concluded the eliminations at 7-5, in danger of falling to as low as seventh with a Rain or Shine win on Friday.
Fatigue has caught up on the visitors, who are also playing in the East Asia Super League and were recently eliminated in the semifinals back home in the Hong Kong A1 Championship.
Import Chris McLaughlin had 18 points, 17 rebounds, five assists and two steals for Eastern.
Key press time tiff
“I’ll always be glad to have a chance to get to the next round,” Road Warriors coach Jong Uichico said after eliminating the Beermen, the team he guided to six championships in the early-2000s. “How we get there, I don’t know. But I always like that we have a chance of getting to the next round.”
Meralco and Barangay Ginebra were slugging it off in the renewal of their rivalry at press time, with the Bolts needing a win to boost their chances of a twice-to-beat advantage.
Ginebra is out to end the eliminations at 8-4, but a loss will keep the crowd favorites in a best-of-three series, with the seeding to be determined after Friday’s games.
Tiebreaker scenarios provided by PBA chief statistician Fidel Mangonon III has Ginebra with the probability of finishing between third to sixth, with Converge, Meralco and NorthPort as probable foes in the series.
A Bolts defeat will assure the NorthPort Batang Pier of the top seed and the first twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals.
