Race for Final Four slots begins
Credit to Author: EDDIE G. ALINEA| Date: Sun, 07 Apr 2019 16:20:02 +0000
The quest for seats in the Final Four has just started with sister teams and two of last season’s winners San Miguel Beer and Barangay Ginebra drawing the first blood on Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The Beermen, the defending titlist here, outlasted Talk ‘N Text Katropa, 80-78, while the Gin Kings, the Commissioner’s Cup champions, downed fellow San Miguel Corp. – franchise owned squad Magnolia Hotshots, 86-75, in a pair of low scoring matchups opening the quarterfinal round.
Both games were bereft of the thrill and excitement expected of a doubleheader called “Manila Classico” as all four teams displayed failed to muster explosive offensive brilliance the fans hoped them to.
And its not even their defense that mattered, but mere listless offense.
All top scorers, in fact, except for Katropa Troy Rosario, who shot 23 points, managed scoring beyond 15 points with Marcio Lassiter, June Mar Fajardo and Terence Romeo tallying that much for the Beermen, Greg Slaughter for the Kings and Paul Lee for Pambansang Manok.
The title-defending Beermen worked behind Fajardo’s and Romeo’s fourth quarter efforts to erase an early 12-point TNT advantage to remain in hunt for the title they’re trying to retain for the fifth straight time.
The Kings, on the other hand, needed an unlikely hero in second generation Bulakeño Art dela Cruz, whose eight points production in the second period, allowed them to take control of the proceedings.
San Miguel managed to win the game despite making just 32-of-81 from the floor for only 39 percent. On the other hand, TNT did much worse with its 30-percent shooting clip (24-of-80).
The Beermen lost in the battle of the boards, 51-59. But they more than made up for this with their sizeable 42-28 advantage in points in the paint.
Katropa’s the “Blur” Jayson Castro managed to grab six rebounds and issue seven assists.
The Kings were all over both ends of the floor, with Slaughter and Aguilar leading the way, in their 58-45 advantage in rebounds.
The duo, too, repeatedly scored inside, leading to a huge 60-34 edge in points in the paint. Ginebra’s bench, likewise, contributed by way of 42 points compared to Magnolia’s 31.
The league’s most popular squad showed teamwork with its 24 assists.
The Beermen and the Kings only need to again prevail in Game 2 of their separate best-of-three series against the Katropa and the Hotshots, respectively, today to continue carrying the SMC flag to the semifinal round and, perhaps, to the gold medal play.
Even to the extent of ousting one of their sister squads – Magnolia – in the process.
All roads won’t be that smooth and easy, though, for any SMC conglomerate to succeed in their mission, as two teams, independent of the SMC and MVP Groups – top seeds Phoenix Pulse and Rain or Shine — are lurking over their heads ready to deny them of any attempt to dominate like they did last season.
SMB, Barangay Ginebra and Magnolia swept all three conferences in 2018 with the Hotshots completing the domination by bagging the Governors’ Cup.
The Fuel Masters and the Elasto Painters were battling the Alaska Aces and the NorthPort Batang Pier, respectively, eyeing a mere triumph each to advance outright to the Final Four on the strength of the twice-to-beat incentives both earned for emerging 1 and 2 teams after the elimination round.
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