Beermen, Kings in crucial clash for top two drive

Unbeaten San Miguel Beer and Barangay Ginebra face off on Friday in a possible preview of what’s to come down the road in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup.Though he agrees that how things transpire after the 7:30 p.m. meeting at Smart Araneta Coliseum won’t translate to how the story of both teams in the all-Filipino tournament ends, Ginebra coach Tim Cone also wants a favorable outcome.“I don’t think we are exactly where we want to be as a team and we expect to be better as the conference goes along,” Cone said, his Ginebra team coming off a grind out win over Magnolia last Sunday.“But you’re always battling for that top two. So it’s a big game in terms of that top two [spots],” added Cone.

The top two teams after the eliminations are guaranteed of the twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals against the seventh and eighth seeds, while the third to sixth placers go into a best-of-three series.

Getting the bonus will be huge for San Miguel, currently the only team without a loss at 4-0, and Ginebra, which won three of its first four matches.

Also in the early running are NLEX (4-1) and NorthPort (3-1), which eyes a crucial win over TNT in the 4:30 p.m. opener.

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“We know that San Miguel’s gonna get one of those two positions, and Magnolia was probably gonna get the second, so beating Magnolia was important because it still gives us a shot at that top two,” said Cone.

“I’m not saying that nobody [else] can get there, but those two guys seem the favorite. If we go out and figure out a way to come up with a victory against San Miguel, it would be a big thing in terms of helping us to the top two.”

Ginebra seems to be in an adjustment period in terms of dealing with Scottie Thompson out indefinitely due to a back problem, while San Miguel has been rolling to victory after victory. INQ