Early clash of heavyweights
The two other quarterfinal series of the PBA Governors’ Cup start on Tuesday at Smart Araneta Coliseum, headlined by an early playoff showdown between powerhouse sister squads Barangay Ginebra and San Miguel Beer.
The Gin Kings and the Beermen Ginebra and San Miguel open their quest to win another championship to cap off the 50th season at 7:30 p.m. following the 5:15 p.m. opener between Rain or Shine and Converge.
Both series are best-of-five affairs, like the two quarterfinal matchups that got underway last Sunday at Ynares Center in Antipolo.
NLEX held off Phoenix, 97-92, while TNT blew out Magnolia, 92-70, to kick off that part of the quarterfinal bracket.
In a rare occurrence, the Gin Kings and the Beermen are squaring off in the first round of the playoffs, something that has not taken place since the 2019 Governors’ Cup.
Ginebra coach Tim Cone described the pairing as “consuelo de bobo” (consolation prize) after securing the last quarterfinals berth the hard way due to a slow start in the conference.
Cone and the Gin Kings have no other recourse but to deal with what’s in front of them.
“Obviously we’re not excited to play San Miguel, but we’ll take on all comers,” Cone said. “And it’s a best-of-five series, so that kind of equals it all out. So it should be a really good battle to see who comes in.”
It will be the fifth time since 2023 that the two San Miguel Corporation teams have set a playoff showdown, with each team winning two series apiece. The Beermen won their last encounter during this season’s Philippine Cup, 4-2.
Rain or Shine and Converge are meeting for just the second time, and both sides are keen to hurdle the first phase of what is described as an easier bracket, given that the winner gets to face whichever comes out of the NLEX-Phoenix series.
Meanwhile, NLEX’s Robert Bolick and Deonte Burton emerged pacesetters in the race for the Best Player of the Conference and Best Import awards, respectively.
Bolick topped the BPC race through the end of the group stage with 37.1 Statistical Points, followed by Terrafirma’s Maverick Ahanmisi (35.7) and the Converge trio of Justin Arana (34.7), Justine Baltazar (34.2) and Juan Gomez de Liano (33.8).
Burton topped the Best Import derby with 55.0 SPs despite playing three games as a replacement for the injured DeQuan Jones. San Miguel’s George King is second with 53.1.
