NO CHRISTMAS TRUCE

An action-packed Christmas Day presentation awaits Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) fans as Season 50 Philippine Cup quarterfinals hostilities explode on Thursday.

All roads lead to Smart Araneta Coliseum with top-seeded defending champion San Miguel Beer battling NLEX in the opening game set at 5:15 p.m.

Reigning Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo, CJ Perez, Don Trollano and the rest of the Beermen head into the quarters with a twice-to-beat advantage and riding the momentum of a nine-game winning streak following a 0-2 start in the golden anniversary staging of Asia’s first play for pay league.

“We have to be consistent, as our preparation going into the quarterfinals,” San Miguel coach Leo Austria said.

The Road Warriors will rely on Robert Bolick, fresh from winning gold with Gilas Pilipinas’ 33rd Southeast Asian Games in Thailand campaign, to rally the team and turn their fortunes around after closing the elimination round with three straight losses.

No. 4-ranked Converge, on the other hand, takes on Barangay Ginebra in an unpredictable clash of high-octane squads at 7:30 p.m.

Both the FiberXers and Gin Kings finished with identical 7-4 win-loss slate but Converge took the fourth spot and quarters incentive by virtue of winner-over-the-other rule.

Meanwhile, Rain or Shine gets an extra muscle underneath with the return of Luis Villegas since undergoing a second anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) surgery a year ago.

Villegas’ activation came just in time for the third-seeded Elasto Painters’ quarters clash with Meralco on Saturday.

Also clashing on Saturday are No. 2 seed TNT and Magnolia.

Despite falling short of playoffs spot, Titan Ultra’s Calvin Abueva emerged as the top scorer of the season-opening tournament at the end of eliminations.

The 37-year-old Giant Riser averaged 23.6 points in 10 games, spiked by a career-high 41 points in a 100-96 victory over the Meralco that highlighted the Giant Risers’ league debut.

Acquired in a trade with Magnolia late last season, Abueva averaged double-double for the conference as he also had 11.9 rebounds per outing to rank third in the league overall.

Titan Ultra’s Joshua Munzon landed at No. 3 with an average of 21.6 points in 11 games.

Blackwater’s RK Ilagan ranked No. 2 behind Abueva with 22.0 points, although he’s been limited to just two games due to a hamstring injury.

Also in the Top 10 scoring list are Converge rookie Juan Gomez De Liano (19.3), Blackwater’s Sedrick Barefield (19.2), Meralco sophomore CJ Cansino (19.1), CJ Perez of San Miguel (19.09), Jason Perkins of Phoenix (19.3), and TNT’s Calvin Oftana (16.9).

Fajardo led the control of the boards with 14.6 rebounds, including a league-best 5.2 average on the offensive boards.

Bolick is still the league’s top playmaker with 8.5 assists per game, and the best from the foul line where he shoots 96.5 percent.

Meralco’s Jansen Rios is the surprise leader in shooting threes with a high 85.7 percent, while Barefield is no. 1 in 3-point field goal made per game with an average of 2.4.

In two-point field goals, Justin Arana of Converge is on top with an average of 7.1, while TNT’s Henry Galinato is shooting the best from the same area with a 68.4 percent.

Last season’s Defensive Player of the year Magnolia big man Zavier Lucero has the most minutes played with 36.5 minutes and is the shot blocking leader with 2.1.