INQUIRER Sports

GAMES FRIDAY (Cuneta Astrodome)
3 p.m.?Purefoods vs Burger King
5:30 p.m.?Barangay Ginebra vs Coca-Cola

BARANGAY GINEBRA AND PUREFOODS, two crowd favorites who have had it rough of late, battle separate dangerous foes at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay as they try to stay within automatic-playoff range in the KFC-PBA Philippine Cup.

Both squads will be coming into the game licking wounds of a two-game losing spell, with the Gin Kings seeking to snap out of it against the resurgent Coca-Cola Tigers in the 5:30 p.m. main game.

The Tender Juicy Giants, on the other hand, slug it out with Burger King Whoppers at 3 p.m. hoping like the Kings to stay within the magic circle of five teams that will get outright playoff berths.

As things stand, the Kings and the Giants are well off outright berths in the Final Four with similar 8-6 cards. Both have four games left in their respective elimination-round schedules.

With league-leading Alaska at 11-2 and No. 2 San Miguel at 12-3, both Ginebra and Purefoods will try to sweep their remaining games and hope that neither the Aces and the Beermen get more than 12 wins to earn a tie.

Tournament format calls for the top two teams to make the Final Four automatically, with the next three figuring in the quarterfinal action.

Those lodged in the next four ranks will then slide down to the one-miss-you-die wild-card phase, where only the top team after a series of KO games will join the three quarterfinalists.

Idle Barako Bull is reeling from 10 straight defeats. And if the fortunes of the Energy Boosters don?t change, it will be curtains for them for the third straight tournament.

Coca-Cola has won its last two games, getting a lift from a coaching change and the return of Asi Taulava from injury.

The Tigers, who halted Alaska?s five-game run last week, will give Ginebra a rough night if they again flaunt the same kind of form.

Burger King, meanwhile, is at 5-9 and is safely in the wild-card phase.