Top-seeded NorthPort heads into the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals with a chip on its shoulder.

Amid the criticisms thrown at them of their intention to compete and accusations of being a “farm team,” the Batang Pier are out to prove their doubters wrong.

“We definitely want to prove that we deserve to be here at this point. It wasn’t just luck,” wingman Joshua Munzon said as twice-to-beat NorthPort prepares for a tough showdown against Magnolia on Thursday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

The Batang Pier dominated the elimination round with a franchise-best 9-3 win-loss record to claim the No. 1 spot and playoffs incentive over the No. 8 Hotshots, who survived a sudden death over NLEX to take the last bus ride to the next round.

“I think we’ve proven all year that we deserve to be here and that we’re playing really hard,” added Munzon, who is second in the team’s scoring 18.42 points per game average behind Best Player of the Conference contender Arvin Tolentino’s league-second best of 23 markers per outing.

NorthPort had an amazing elims run when it recorded a historic sweep of San Miguel Corporation’s troika of dethroned San Miguel Beer, Barangay Ginebra and Magnolia.

The Batang Pier wrapped up the elims with a 120-93 drubbing of Blackwater last 25 January following a 105-104 escape over the Beermen four days prior.

Now, NorthPort is ready to end a six-year semifinals drought.

But it won’t be easy as the Hotshots are on a four-game roll.

“It’s the playoffs. That’s what the playoffs are for. It’s never gonna be easy. I think that’s what the season was for us — trying to build every game and trying to get better every game — and take that every step of the way with us to now,” Munzon said.

The Batang Pier last reached the semis back in the 2019 Governors’ Cup but lost to Ginebra in four games.

“We had a lot of tests this season, especially late in the season, those games that we dropped. But you know, we’re always gonna play somebody tough in the playoffs so I think we just have to step our game up and bring it the way we’re bringing it the whole year,” Munzon added.