Ginebra will look to follow up its rousing debut with another win when the crowd darlings take on a hungry NLEX as the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup heads back to the SMART Araneta Coliseum on Friday night.
Game time is set at 7:30 p.m., with the Kings keen on winning their second in a row after sending guest team Macau reeling to its third loss in as many games by way of a 110-93 exactly a week ago–and under the Big Dome lights, too.
They’re also coming in as the favorites, as far as the Casino Plus sportsbook is concerned. The traditional contenders are favored to come out triumphant with a -6.0 margin, with over/under in points set at 195.5.
Bets can be made here: https://www.casinoplus.com.ph/home/inGame?name=Basketball&title=SportBet.
Coach Tim Cone reminded his men about their slow start in the last Philippine Cup, where they won just twice in their first six outings, and how much he wouldn’t want a repeat of that to happen given the field’s toughness this time.
“Last conference, we got off to a really slow start,” recalled Cone. “Pretty much everybody counted us out. But we battled back, got to the semis.
“But that was a hard road that we had to deal with. We talked a lot about getting out of the gate quickly this time,” added the league’s winningest mentor.
They did jump out of the gates hot and mauled the Black Knights, and their focus is now on trying to win back-to-back outings when they take on the Road Warrior–although they also know that it would be easier said than done.
Ginebra will be taking on a team that’s raring to get back on track quickly after its bid of going 3-0 got spoiled by Bol Bol and TNT last Sunday in Antipolo.
The former NBA winger indeed took the spotlight on that one with 40 points and 15 rebounds, effectively stopping the Road Warriors from their tracks after beginning the midseason joust with wins against Blackwater and Magnolia.
With him leading the way, the Tropang 5G nailed their first win of the tourney and did it even without Glenn Khobuntin, who served the first of a two-game ban he received for fighting Jaylen Johnson in their eventual loss to Rain or Shine.
The American big man, though, wasn’t spared either and was slapped with a one-game suspension, which he’ll serve on Friday as well versus Meralco.
With that, the Elasto Painters will have to face the Bolts in the 5:15 opening salvo with an all-Filipino lineup, clearly putting them at a disadvantage.
According to the Casino Plus sportsbook, Meralco is a whopping -10.5 favorite to win the game. The over/under is set at 201.5.
Regardless of what the betting odds say, Coach Yeng Guiao and his wards are surely ready and confident, having taken the scalp of the defending conference champions–and shown a blueprint on how to beat a team with Bol.
However, they’re cautious as well, given the fact that they will be facing a Bolts team that’s also toting a 2-0 record like them, making their bout a battle for the provisional lead of the standings after Terrafirma fell to 3-1 last Wednesday.
And it will undeniably be a challenging outing for the RoS bigs in trying to at least limit import Marvin Jones, who’s been meshing so well with Meralco.
