INQUIRER Sports

GAMES TODAY (Ynares Center, Antipolo)
4 p.m.?Alaska vs Coca-Cola
6:30 p.m.?Barangay Ginebra vs Rain or Shine

MANILA, Philippines??We have a lot more work ahead of us.?

This was what Alaska coach Tim Cone told Barangay Ginebra mentor Jong Uichico on their way back to their respective lockers after a classic victory by the Aces over the Gin Kings Friday night at the Araneta Coliseum.

With Alaska?s high-wire 76-75 triumph over Ginebra, both squads need to hurdle separate playoff games tonight to clinch favorable rankings in the playoffs of the season-ending Motolite PBA Fiesta Cup at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.

Alaska slugs it out with Coca-Cola for No. 8 spot at 4 p.m. with the defending champion Gin Kings playing for an even bigger stake in the 6:30 p.m. contest?the second outright semifinal seat?against young yet dangerous Rain or Shine.

?We still have one more crucial game to play,? Cone told scribes Friday. ?That?s exactly what I told Jong, that we have a lot more work ahead of us.?

There?s a whole world of advantage awaiting the winners of today?s double-header.

The No. 8 team falls into a knockout match with the No. 5 seed while finishing No. 2 means a rest of at least three weeks and a step shy of making the title series.

The loser of the Alaska?Coca-Cola game will drop to No. 9 with a very difficult task of winning two straight games against the No. 4 team, in this case Burger King, to stay alive in the playoffs.

That?s why Cone described his game against Ginebra Friday night as their championship, since he didn?t think that he would have a great chance of pulling off two straight wins against such a formidable foe.

Ginebra, meanwhile, saw a streak of seven straight wins come to a halt and wants to get back on the winning track again, especially since it got derailed after its comeback from 21 points down went down the drain.

San Miguel is the first semifinal qualifier with an 11-3 record, while the loser of the Ginebra-Rain or Shine game will become No. 3 and with a twice-to-beat advantage like the idle Whoppers, who actually finished 8-6 like Ginebra and Rain or Shine but were booted out of this game because of an inferior quotient.