Race for quarterfinal incentives heats up

The wild chase for the remaining two twice-to-beat quarterfinals advantage hits fever pitch on the final playdate of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup elimination round today at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.

Three teams are still in the running for the vital incentive in the next round, while one squad is just looking to build on something for Season 50 and play the spoiler’s role.

San Miguel Beer is not taking also-ran NorthPort lightly with too much at stake in their 5 p.m. encounter.

On the other hand, Barangay Ginebra and Rain or Shine battle in a virtual playoff for the quarters bonus at 7:30 p.m.

On paper, things looked easy. All the Beermen need to do is get past the eliminated Batang Pier to secure the quarterfinals bonus.

San Miguel is a stacked team with eight-time Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo and CJ Perez, but that doesn’t mean an automatic win, especially against a team with nothing to lose.

Beermen coach Leo Austria has been reminding his men to treat the game as the start of the playoffs.

“They need to have that sense of urgency. If you have that sense of urgency you won’t let yourself lose. They have to bear in mind that this is a very, very important game,” Austria said.

“Our game against NorthPort is the start of our (virtual) best-of-three. If we win, we just need one more to enter the semifinals. If we lose, we have to win two in a row,” he added.

Carrying a 7-3 win-loss record tied with the Kings, San Miguel is in a must-win situation to avoid a complicated logjam that might even send the squad to the bottom four of the quarters cast.

A win by the Beermen will secure them the No. 1 seeding. If San Miguel loses and winds up with a 7-4 slate with Ginebra, Rain or Shine and Converge, it will still end up at No. 3.

But a defeat by the Beermen followed by a victory by the Kings over the Elasto Painters would send San Miguel to No. 5 in a twice-to-win handicap against the FiberXers, who will go up to fourth seed in this scenario.

The pressure is even greater for the Beermen following a sorry 97-100 loss to Converge last Wednesday, where they erased an 18-point deficit but blew a nine-point lead in the final canto.

It doesn’t help that the Batang Pier are fresh from a shocking 113-108 upset over NLEX that ended their eight-game losing skid for a 2-8 slate.

“Don’t underestimate our opponent and we have to control their transition offense because they will keep on running simply because they’re smaller than us. The only way they can beat us is by trying to outrun us,” Austria said.

“Usually, their transition points come from turnovers and bad shot selection. So, if we execute well, they won’t be able to run.”

Meanwhile, Ginebra hopes to carry the momentum of its back-to-back wins over Magnolia, 85-81, and grand slam-seeking TNT, 97-78, to get past Rain or Shine and lock the quarters advantage.

The Elasto Painters, who dropped their last outing against San Miguel (111-120), will try their luck to move up to the Top Four through the backdoor.