Two of the four teams that will battle it out for the PBA Commissioner’s Cup are defending champion Talk N’ Text and the crowd-darling Barangay Ginebra mega888.
Two of the four teams vying for the two remaining Final Four slots are the Alaska Aces-Barako Bull Energy and B-Meg Llamados-Meralco which will have their final showdown at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Fighting for the Remaining Slots
The Aces battle the Barako Bull Energy in the 4:15 p.m. game before the Llamados, the highest-seeded squad in this round, slug it out with dangerous Meralco in the 6:30 p.m. game with the losers packing their bags for a belated Holy Week break.
All four sides are well-rested because of the three-day Lenten break and it would be interesting to see who among them will be sharp coming into their respective game times.
According to latest PBA news, Alaska and B-Meg avoided being swept Wednesday night with command performances that led to blowout victories, and they would hope to ride that brilliance for the double do-or-die games today.
B-Meg, the third-ranked squad after the eliminations, got a huge lift Wednesday when Mac-Mac Cardona was thrown out barely two minutes into Game 2, exploiting that to post several 26-point leads before prevailing.
According to UAAP News, Cardona escaped suspension and was fined P6,600 for hitting B-Meg import Denzel Bowles without provocation and the Llamados will surely be in for another tough night especially so since Earl Barron has proven to be an unstoppable force for the B-Boys.
Alaska, meanwhile, was cohesive enough to dump the Energy also Wednesday night after Barako Bull planed in a new import in Gabriel Freeman. But Alaska coach Joel Banal knows what he will be up against tonight.
“For sure, come Sunday, Freeman will blend with the team,” Banal told reporters. “We have to be ready for Freeman’s breakout game. We can’t give that to him.” Maybe the Aces still could, if only they could have Adam Parada contribute the way they want him to be.