AVOIDING THE WRINGER

TNT’s Chot Reyes (left) and Rain or Shine’s Yeng Guiao are in another playoff collision course. —PBA IMAGES

TNT and Rain or Shine could very well find themselves going for each other’s throats for the fifth straight playoff series in a few days.

And for that to happen, the Tropang 5G and Elasto Painters will try to shake off the Christmas hangover and eliminate their respective quarterfinal foes on Saturday in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Rain or Shine faces Meralco at 5:15 p.m. before TNT battles Magnolia at 7:30 p.m., both armed with the twice-to-beat advantages, a playoff bonus that looks to come in handy after they finished at the upper half of the field that made it past the eliminations.

“We know how hard they will come at us,” said Tropang 5G coach Chot Reyes of the Hotshots. “It takes our best to even compete against a team as deep and as talented as Magnolia is.”

Deal with LA again

TNT will be six days removed from defeating Magnolia, 94-83, to close the eliminations, which also spoiled the on-court return of Magnolia coach LA Tenorio.

Tenorio played 13 minutes and scored four points for the Hotshots, seeing action for the first time in close to a year with two Magnolia guards, including Paul Lee, out of commission with injuries.

The Elasto Painters, on the other hand, play a Bolts team that they beat in overtime in the early goings of the conference, rallying from a big deficit, getting a game-tying tip from Gabe Norwood before prevailing 96-95 in Rodriguez, Rizal.

Rain or Shine secured the bonus during its win over Magnolia in Bahrain.

“It’s really important to have that twice-to-beat,” Guiao said, knowing that the Bolts are a hard-nosed bunch that knows how to play under pressure.

Should they get the job done—in the short way or otherwise—TNT and Rain or Shine will meet in the playoffs yet again in a string of matchups that started in the 2024 quarterfinals of this same conference that saw the Painters eliminate the Tropang 5G in three games.

One-side affair

From there, it’s been a one-sided affair favoring TNT, which posted a 4-1 series win in the semifinals of last season’s Governors’ Cup and Commissioner’s Cup.

They met again in the same season’s Philippine Cup semis, with TNT prevailing in six games.

Meralco and Magnolia will try to replicate what Barangay Ginebra did on Christmas Day, when it routed Converge, 105-85, to force a decider.

Ginebra and Converge are slated to meet again on Sunday at the Big Dome.