It will be a war of conglomerates as the 2021 Honda PBA Philippine Cup semifinals start on Sunday at the Don Honorio Ventura State University Gym in Bacolor.
Four teams — two each from San Miguel Corp. and the MVP Group — will slug it out for the right to vie for the championship previously held by Barangay Ginebra, whose reign ended after losing in the quarters last Wednesday.
Meralco and Magnolia will raise the curtains of the double-header offering at 2:00 p.m. in a battle between the no. 2 and no. 3 seeds.
The Bolts are entering the match with little rest as they have just finished off the upset-hungry NLEX last Friday, although they have the advantage over the Hotshots owing to their elimination round win last September 1.
That match saw them come back from 13 points down in the final two minutes and bag home the 95-94 victory, marking their second straight win over the defense-oriented crew as they have also beaten them in Clark last year.
Meralco head coach Norman Black, however, warned that they are about to face a much different Magnolia team this time around.
“We played them early in the conference. I think we beat them, but it was very, very early. So obviously they’re a different team now,” said the champion mentor. “They’ve jelled already as the conference has gone on.”
Hotshots head coach Chito Victolero, on the other hand, is also aware of the challenges the Bolts are going to impose in the best-of-seven tilt.
“It’s a tough opponent,” said the one-time titlist, whose side swept Rain or Shine in the best-of-three quarters on the way to their first semis since the 2019 Philippine Cup. “Dahil talagang sobrang ganda rin ng nilalaro.”
Meanwhile, battling at 4:35 p.m. are the top-seeded TNT and San Miguel in yet another meeting between the rival conglomerate’s flagship teams.
It would be a rematch of the 2019 Commissioner’s Cup Finals but Beermen head coach Leo Austria will face someone whom he has not battled in a stage like this in Chot Reyes, who returned to the league last February.
It could be remembered that Austria entered the league in 2014, two years after Reyes left the PBA to go full-time with Gilas Pilipinas.
Their first meeting happened last September 8 and Austria introduced himself to his counterpart by way of a dominant 83-67 victory. And that’s something Reyes and Co. will keep in mind heading into their series.
“San Miguel kicked our butt in the elimination round. It wasn’t even close. They beat us and they beat us badly. We have our work cut out for us,” he said.
The advantage may be on SMB but that doesn’t make Austria less worried, saying that it would be difficult to beat a team who’s out on a mission.
Well, it was none other than the Tropang Giga who gave the boot to Ginebra by maximizing their win-once playoff incentive being the no. 1 team.
“It’s tough to beat Talk ‘N Text because they are out on a mission eh,” he said. “In the past, we had a good game against them. But this time, there’s a lot of difference because I know na they are very composed, very confident.”
