Games today:

(Smart Araneta Coliseum)

5 p.m. — Rain or Shine vs Converge

7:30 p.m. — Barangay Ginebra vs Meralco

Barangay Ginebra topped Meralco the last time they crossed paths at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

But for Kings coach Tim Cone, what has transpired in the past has nothing to do with how the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup best-of-three quarterfinals will be played out.

Everything is back to square one.

Ginebra expects nothing less of a grind-it-out encounter with the Bolts in an all-important series opener today at the same Quezon City venue.

The Kings brace for war in their marquee 7:30 p.m. duel against reeling but very dangerous Meralco following the 5 p.m. collision course between Rain or Shine and Converge in the other race-to-two quarters pairing.

Ginebra does have the Bolts’ numbers, parading a 4-0 head-to-head win-loss record since the previous tilt.

The Kings swept Meralco in three games in the season-opening Governors’ Cup quarters and defeated the Bolts missing reinforcement Akil Mitchell due to back spasms, 91-87, last week in their elims meeting.

Both teams managed the minutes of their main guns in what served as a mere warmup to the series.

“It’s hard to read off this game because the import didn’t play and Justin (Brownlee) played minimum minutes. Both teams played the guys off the bench for elongated times,” Cone said.

“So, it’s hard to read off this game on what’s gonna happen in the series.”

Mitchell, who also sat out Meralco’s 92-129 walloping at the hands of Magnolia last Friday, should be back in action after getting enough rest.

It will be an interesting matchup between Brownlee and Mitchell, both averaging about 24 points per game.

But the biggest question is how the Bolts will bounce back from back-to-back losses.

“We’ve got to pick it up,” Meralco coach Luigi Trillo said.

“Against Ginebra, we’ve got to play better defense too, and on both ends of the court because it’s playoff time,” he added.

Locals Raymond Almazan, Chris Newsome, Aaron Black, Bong Quinto and Cliff Hodge do need to pick up their game or risk another beating at the hands of the Kings backed by a solid local crew of Scottie Thompson, RJ Abarrientos, Stephen Holt, Troy Rosario, Japeth Aguilar and Jamie Malonzo.

Meanwhile, FiberXers mentor Franco Atienza believes his wards will have their hands full playing the Elasto Painters in the playoffs.

Converge had a great elims run with an 8-4 card tied with TNT and Ginebra and landed at No. 3.

The FiberXers defeated Rain or Shine, 103-96, in the elims but it doesn’t bear any weight as far as Atienza is concerned.

“When you go to the playoffs, whatever you achieve in eliminations you just throw it out of the window. The level of competition is different in the playoffs,” Atienza said.

The young mentor also acknowledges that his counterpart coach Yeng Guiao is an experienced tactician.

“We all know the caliber of coach Yeng, very smart. And before we forget, Rain or Shine is one of the hottest teams at the start of the eliminations. They did lose some games but those were close decisions. Their placing (No. 6) now is not representative of how good a team they are,” Atienza added.

Guiao, on the other hand, considers his team as the underdog going up against the FiberXers demolition squad of Cheick Diallo, top rookie Justine Baltazar, Jordan Heading and streaky scorer Alec Stockton, who willed Converge back from a 17-point deficit against Rain or Shine in the elims.