TARLAC CITY—After sorting out minor conflicts, Harbour Centre tries to flash its old fiery form against San Mig Coffee in the semifinal playoffs of the PBL Lipovitan Amino Sports Cup here Friday.
The Batang Pier, who dropped two of their last three games in the elimination round after a 12-game winning roll, remained favored over the Coffee Kings in Game 1 of their best-of-five series at the Tarlac State University gym.
“The semifinal series is more important than sweeping the eliminations,” said Harbour coach Jorge Gallent. “The boys want to prove something, so this is the right time for them. We had another round of team building, so everybody is raring to prove his worth.”
Hapee Toothpaste is also favored over Burger King at the start of their own best-of-five semifinal encounter at 4 p.m.
Game 2 of the series shifts to Baguio City on Monday.
Both Harbour Centre and Hapee are coming off a week-long break after clinching outright semifinal berths, the incentive given to the top two squads at the end of the elimination round.
Burger King advanced to the Final Four by disposing of Pharex, 77-71, in the quarterfinals, while San Mig Coffee took an even longer route when Toyota Otis dragged their own series to a winner-take-all clash which the Coffee Kings eventually secured, 68-64.
Jason Castro, who averages a team-best 14.5 points, hopes to lead Batang Pier to their fifth straight championship in his final tour of duty before suiting up for the Singapore Slingers in the Australia-based National Basketball League.
But the fleet-footed 5-foot-9 cager will be up against Bonbon Custodio, the Coffee Kings' own prolific guard, who norms 13.8 markers per game.
The Coffee Kings, who last captured a league title three years ago, also hope to draw support from Ford Arao, Eric dela Cuesta, JP Alcaraz and Neil Rañeses.
The Whoppers, meanwhile, expect a similarly good match up against the Complete Protectors' star-studded cast led by slam dunk champion Gabe Norwood, Jervy Cruz, Mark Borboran, Reed Juntilla and Larry Rodriguez. Jasmine W. Payo
