Barangay Ginebra guns for back-to-back wins as it faces Blackwater Wednesday in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.
Tip-off starts at 7:30 p.m. as the Kings look to strengthen their bid for the quarterfinals at the expense of a Bossing side that is suffering their seventh straight loss in eight games.
Ginebra, which holds a 3-4 win-loss record, is expected to pick up an easy win as Blackwater will be playing without rookie guard Dalph Panopio and Abu Tratter, who are in Thailand for the 33rd Southeast Asian Games.
But for Kings head coach Tim Cone, they need to be able to close out games and hope their 93-102 win over Phoenix last 16 November at the Quadricentennial Pavilion in the University of Santo Tomas will serve as a spark for more wins.
“It was good to get the monkey off our back a little bit by coming out and playing and winning the game down the stretch. That was really important for us and that’s what we need,” Cone said.
RJ Abbarientos, Scottie Thompson, and Japeth Aguilar are expected to led Ginebra to victory after their Gilas Pilipinas stint in the first window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup Asian Qualifiers last 28 November and 1 December.
At 5:15 p.m., Meralco faces Terrafirma to open the day’s double-header.
The Bolts, who also hold a 3-4 record, will be using their recent 93-91 win over the Macau Black Bears in the East Asian Super League last Friday as momentum as they look to break a two-game losing streak.
Led by veterans Chris Newsome, Raymond Almazan, Brandon Bates and Cliff Hodge Meralco looks to win at least three of their four remaining games to punch a ticket to the quarterfinals.