Bolts have it easy in sewing up place in top four for playoff bonus
Meralco sealed a place in the top four and grabbed a twice-to-beat advantage that goes along with it after having little trouble in flattening import-less Terrafirma, 113-69, in a PBA Commissioner’s Cup elimination round win that now stands as the Bolts’ biggest margin of victory in franchise history.
Import Marvin Jones was on the floor for just a shade over 13 minutes and tossed in 14 points and seven players finished in twin digits as the Bolts rose to 8-3, which rendered their final elimination round assignment against Magnolia next week a no-bearing contest as far as they are concerned.
“They didn’t play with their import, so this kind of game, they (Dyip) were already out,” Meralco coach Luigi Trillo said as Terrafirma missed the services of Mubashar Ali, who simply couldn’t suit up because of food poisoning.
“We just needed to take care of our (end of the) business,” Trillo said. “I think we did that well enough.”
The Meralco win left only the rankings from Nos. 2-4 to be decided, with Rain or Shine battling Titan Ultra at press time, looking for a win to break out of a second place with the Bolts and idle Barangay Ginebra.
Crucial final games
San Miguel, defending champion TNT, Magnolia and Phoenix are tied at 6-5 with a game left each and the results of their respective final games will determine their playoffs rankings and the opponents they will face and will try to beat two straight times.
Paolo Hernandez led the Dyip, who lost for the eighth time in 12 games for another early exit.
Converge, guest team Macau, the Giant Risers and Blackwater, which tapped Pat Aquino as its new coach midtournament, joined Terrafirma in taking an early vacation.
The Bossing has a shot at not finishing at the bottom of the pile on Saturday in battling the FiberXers, an underachieving side here.
Phoenix and San Miguel, meanwhile, try to break out of that fifth-place tie in the 7:30 p.m. game at Ynares Center in Antipolo.
The elimination round closes with the Meralco-Magnolia and Barangay Ginebra-TNT matches on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena, with both matches carrying big playoff ranking implications.
