San Miguel, RoS brace for dogfight

Games today:

(Ninoy Aquino Stadium)

5 p.m. — TNT vs Terrafirma

7:30 p.m. — San Miguel vs Rain or Shine

Rain or Shine and San Miguel Beer are already through the playoffs but they will still take their Group B rematch with a sense of urgency.

After all, the No. 1 seed in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup quarterfinals is still up for grabs, making their second meeting today at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium as exciting as the first.

The two squads are deadlocked with identical 6-2 win-loss records on top of the heap raising the stakes in their match that is set to tip off at 7:30 p.m. even more.

Meanwhile, quarterfinal-bound defending champion TNT Tropang Giga battles also-ran Terrafirma at 5 p.m. in Group A.

The Beermen are currently the hottest team in Group B after racking up four straight wins, including a 131-82 pounding of Barangay Ginebra last Sunday in a match highlighted by San Miguel sniper Macio Lassiter hitting six three-pointers to become the all-time leader in made triples.

In fact, San Miguel’s winning run started when June Mar Fajardo knocked the buzzer-beating jumper that bounced off the rim before rolling in a 113-112 squeaker over Rain or Shine last 5 September.

“When you play against Rain or Shine, which is a pesky team, you have to know that you have to sprint back down and locate their shooters. All of those guys can shoot their threes and finish the layup,” Beermen coach Jorge Gallent said.

“The most important thing against Rain or Shine is to do all of that.”

Their first meeting was a classic as they traded baskets all game long. The final sequence was a wild one.

Rookie Felix Pangilinan-Lemetti sank the go-ahead free throws after getting fouled by Chris Ross from the four-point area with time winding down, giving the Elasto Painters a one-point lead.

Without any timeouts left, CJ Perez quickly got the ball down to Fajardo for the stop-and-pop shot over Gian Mamuyac to help San Miguel make an amazing escape.

Gallent, however, hopes this one will still favor the Beermen without the need for a game-winner.

“I hope not. I just hope not. That win against Rain or Shine lifted us because we just came from a loss to NLEX. That game-winning shot by June Mar gave us the motivation and energy to win the next three games,” he said.

Rain or Shine, on the other hand, just came off a bounce-back win over NLEX, 123-114, in overtime last Tuesday.

The first order of business for the Elasto Painters is to solve the Fajardo puzzle.

“It’s a playoff game. We’ve lost five times to San Miguel since the last conference. We still can’t solve June Mar. We haven’t solved their import (Jordan Adams) either,” Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao said.

“Maybe it’ll take us 16 more games to find a solution to that. But we’ll get to solve that eventually. Let’s see on Thursday,” he added in jest.

The Elasto Painters have proven that they can outrun and outlast any team with their deep arsenal.

Import Aaron Fuller has been consistent on both ends of the floor, but its potent local crew makes Rain or Shine dangerous. Jhonard Clarito, Mamuyac, Andrei Caracut, Anton Asistio, Adrian Nocum, Lemetti and Caelan Tiongson can pose a big problem to the opposition.