Barangay Ginebra braces for a tougher Meralco side when they meet again in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup playoffs.

In a preview of the best-of-three quarterfinals, the Kings bested the all-Filipino Bolts, 91-87, to close their elimination round campaign with an 8-4 win-loss record tied with Converge Wednesday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

But Ginebra head coach Tim Cone knows they will face a different Meralco squad in the playoffs.

“Obviously, they’re gonna be well motivated because we knocked them out last conference,” Cone said of the team Ginebra eliminated via sweep in the best-of-five quarterfinals of the Governors’ Cup.

“So, they’re gonna be well-motivated coming into this conference. We played them without their import tonight and obviously he’s a huge, huge impact in the game. That’s something we have to account for in the series.”

Ginebra is locked at the No. 4 spot due to an inferior quotient compared to the FiberXers while Meralco (7-4) is at fifth regardless of the result of its game against Magnolia today.

The Kings took control of the match in the second half, building enough cushion to stave off the Bolts’ late rally in the fourth.

RJ Abarrientos and Justin Brownlee led Ginebra with 17 and 15 markers, respectively, while Troy Rosario and Stephen Holt had 13 each.

However, both teams managed the minutes of their starters with Meralco sitting out reinforcement Akil Mitchell to recover from back spasms and Cone opting to play his second and third stringers for the majority of the game.

“This game was more of an opportunity for us to get ready for the playoffs. We wanted to make sure that guys who are not getting a lot of minutes (get to play), you just don’t know what could happen in the playoffs,” Cone said.