BONUS CHASE
NLEX already has a twice-to-beat privilege all sewed up, and five other teams are scampering for the last three of those bonuses with one of them, traditional powerhouse San Miguel, seeing action and needing to be perfect the rest of the way to do so.
The Road Warriors close out their surprising elimination round run against also-ran NorthPort in the 5 p.m. contest at Ninoy Aquino Stadium, with the win giving them temporary hold of No. 1 spot and what should be the lightest assignment in the first round of the playoffs.
“I’m just surprised at how the team is playing,” coach Jong Uichico said after the playoff bonus-clinching 107-99 victory over Magnolia last week.
“They’re really performing well and I’m just happy that they’re winning and the work they’ve been putting in during practices are paying off.
“It’s hard if you keep working without being rewarded. But at least, they get rewarded for their hard work with the number of games that we’ve won,” he added.
San Miguel then takes the floor next at 7:30 p.m., looking for the first of two wins that could knock the Road Warriors out of that spot since they could both end up tied with 9-2 records after the single-round classification with the Beermen to win the tiebreak because of the winner-over-the-other rule.
NLEX has won its last two games and is in this position with the Road Warriors responding to coach Jong Uichico and letting Robert Bolick do his thing on the floor.
Should the Road Warriors win and San Miguel splits its last two games, the Beermen’s last assignment also being the Batang Pier, NLEX will top the eliminations and will draw defending champion Meralco in the quarterfinals.
TNT, Rain or Shine, Barangay Ginebra and Magnolia are the three other squads looking for that quarterfinal bonus, and of the three, the Tropang 5G have a rather tough route to get that, as not even a win over the Hotshots on Friday would guarantee them of the privilege.
Ginebra could hold the key for the Tropang 5G for a top-four finish, as a win over the Elasto Painters when both teams close out eliminations next week will give TNT that ride.
That became the scenario for the Grand Slam-seeking side after losing badly to Ginebra the last time, a 19-point debacle that now requires TNT to beat Magnolia by a margin bigger than that and hope for a Rain or Shine win for them to make the top four.
