Rain or Shine is hoping to silence the skeptics by maximizing its win-once incentive against San Miguel as the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals continue later tonight at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
The Elasto Painters have the chance to reach the semis quickly by dispatching the Beermen in their 5:15 PM bout. However, many wonder if they can make good use of their playoff advantage, given their recent history.
In the last Philippine Cup, Coach Yeng Guiao’s men clinched the twice-to-beat by finishing the eliminations as the no. 2-seed, only to get swept by Meralco in the Final Eight — first a 96-79 rout, and then a 98-89 decision in the knockout.
Questions have come up about their ability to go deeper into the conference following a wobbly end to their preliminaries. The crew lost three of their last five games after a blazing 7-0 start to the midseason tilt.
They still managed to finish as the third seed with a 9-3 record, but the luck of the draw found them bracketed with a Beermen side that’s proven many times in the past that it can overcome twice-to-win disadvantages.
SMB, furthermore, is coming into the playoffs on a roll, having won its last three games of the eliminations to finish with a 7-5 card. It left Coach Leo Austria pleased as his charges have now gotten into a groove after a shaky start.
“We don’t want to get into the quarterfinals in a losing manner,” he said after their 116-104 victory over Phoenix last May 9. “What I’ve taught the team is to let us respect the game, let us be consistent on our winning attitude.”
That’s why Bennie Boatwright & Co. are touted as the favorites — they’re seen to win by -6.5 points, according to the Casino Plus sportsbook. The over/under is set at 224.0.
Wagers can be placed here: https://www.casinoplus.com.ph/home/inGame?name=basketball&title=SportBet.
Meanwhile, Barangay Ginebra will look to repeat against Phoenix at 7:30 PM, keen on playing just one game as it owns the twice-to-beat shield.
The Casino Plus sportsbook says that they’re favored to win by -7.0 points, mainly because of their form entering the quarters. They went near-perfect to finish the eliminations by winning six of their last seven games.
The over/under for total points is 200.5 as of 2:30 PM.
That included a 109-96 victory against the Fuel Masters, who at the time were reinforced by Justin Brownlee’s close pal, James Dickey.
It was the second of the Kings’ eventual five-game winning streak before concluding the eliminations with back-to-back victories against Rain or Shine and defending champions TNT to secure the second seed with a 9-3 card.
And the crowd darlings want to make it three straight when they take on a Phoenix team that may or may not have the injured Ricci Rivero in tow. The star guard is still recovering from a hand injury he suffered versus the Tropang 5G.
Coach Tim Cone, however, knows that it will be no easy task getting rid of Charles Tiu’s team, especially with Johnathan Williams back in the fold. ‘J3’ helped the Fuel Masters beat Ginebra, 82-77, back on December 9, 2023.
“They have been good all conference long. We know we have our work cut out for us. But right now we’re just focused on playing one game,” Cone said.
