For Joshua Smith, he doesn’t care which team the TNT Katropa face in the 2018 Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals.
Smith and the Texters will head into the quarterfinals as the third seed, following their 100-85 dismantling of the top-seeded Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, Saturday evening.
The third seed will be facing the sixth-ranked team in a best-of-three series. The Katropa have yet to determine who they will face: San Miguel Beermen, Magnolia Hotshots, or Barangay Ginebra San Miguel.
Facing any of the San Miguel teams is dangerous, to say the least, but especially San Miguel and Ginebra – the Beermen are the defending champions, and the Barangay have their twin towers, plus Justin Brownlee.
Smith knows the two teams well, given that he faced them last season in the same conference: the Gin Kings in the semifinals, and the Beermen in the championship round.
So with that kind of familiarity, Smith is undaunted.
“We feel confident no matter who we play. When you get to the playoffs all the teams are good,” said Smith.
“We can’t look at it and say ‘Oh we’re playing the San Miguel teams’ last year we played them in the semis and the Finals so whoever we play it doesn’t matter.”
