Contenders to show up as PBA playoffs kick off

4:30 pm – Talk ‘N Text vs San Miguel Beer

The contenders will be separated from the pretenders when Game 1 of the best-of-three quarterfinal showdown of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup fires off today at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Surging Ginebra looks to extend its winning streak in the playoffs when it battles a very familiar foe in Meralco at 7 pm while third-seed Talk ‘N Text tries to move on from the massive brawl between Gilas Pilipinas and Australia when it clashes with reigning champion San Miguel in the 4:30 pm appetizer.

Also competing in the playoffs are top seeds Rain or Shine and Alaska, who enjoy a twice-to-beat advantage against Globalport and Magnolia, respectively.

Action, intensity and drama are tipped hound the collision between the KaTropa and the Beermen.

With Terrence Romeo, Jason Castro, Roger Pogoy and Troy Rosario getting embroiled in the free-for-all melee during the country’s hosting of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifier last week, it’s going to be interesting how they will respond against a juggernaut like the Beermen.

In their previous game against Rain or Shine, Castro begged off from suiting up while Romeo and Pogoy managed to churn only a combined 10 points.

Rosario, however, served as a bright spot as he delivered 19 points and eight rebounds for the KaTropa, who captured a 100-85 victory over the Elasto Painters in a virtually no-bearing battle.

TNT head coach Nash Racela admitted that the sorry episode had an impact to their performance.

“Jason talked to me before the game and he wanted to get some rest. So we gave him time to recover,” said Racela, adding that he wasn’t bothered over Romeo’s refusal to shoot after being one of the nine Gilas players who got thrown out in that fateful match against the Boomers.

Romeo, however, tallied a career-high 12 assists.

“He wasn’t taking any shots but he was passing the ball. As long as he plays the game correctly, it’s good for us.”

The Kings actually started on a wrong foot with a 1-5 win-loss slate before catching fire with import Justin Brownlee taking over to finish the eliminations with a glowing average 26.2 points, 12.8 rebounds and 6.4 assists.

With Brownlee at helm, the Kings swept their last five games with an astounding winning margin of 18.4 points to salvage the fifth spot in the eight-team quarterfinals.

Head Coach Tim Cone is impressed with his wards’ timely turnaround but calls on them to up their gear even more in the all-important playoffs where their winning streak doesn’t matter anymore.

“I tipped my hat to the guys from being 1-5 to reaching this point but it won’t mean much unless we do something in the playoffs. It’s what we play for. Everybody wants to make noise in the playoffs,” said Cone.

“It’s starting all over again. Everybody is 50/50 at this point.”

Cone, however, is worried on the fourth-seed Bolts, who are being reinforced by the 6-foot-9 Arinze Onuaku.

“They have a huge import. That costs problems for us. It’s really hard to play them. It’s a big, huge difference,” he said, looking back to the tough 82-93 loss to Meralco back in the elimination round.

The Bolts, indeed, will not be an easy nut to crack for Ginebra, especially after impressing with a 7-4 record in the preliminaries to fall just one game short of clinching one of the twice-to-beat incentives in the playoffs.

Behind the former Best Import Onuaku who is averaging 17.9 points, 16.6 rebounds and 5.0 assists, Meralco is keen on giving Ginebra a run for its own money to finally have the Gin Kings’ number after losing two finals series in the last two years.