Ginebra eyes crucial quarterfinal bonus

Greg Slaughter (left) will be at the center of Ginebra’s attack against Globalport today. AUGUST DELA CRUZ

MANILA, Philippines — Barangay Ginebra guns for top seeding Friday and will try to put Globalport on the brink of an early exit even as Talk ‘N Text battles San Mig Coffee for the No. 4 ranking in the PLDT MyDSL Philippine Cup at Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

Tournament leaders for close to a month now, the Gin Kings slug it out with the Batang Pier in the 5:15 p.m. game with a win giving Ginebra the first twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals.

This will actually be the first of two shots that Ginebra can exhaust in nailing a quarterfinal bonus, with the Kings still to play the Tropang Texters at the close of the elimination round on Sunday.

Similarly, the game against the Mixers in the 8 p.m. nightcap is the first of two chances that the “four-peat”-seeking Texters have, though they are already assured of playing on a level field in the quarters whatever happens.

Tournament format calls for the top two teams to advance to the next round opposite the bottom two squads—Nos. 8 and 7, respectively—needing to win just once to march on to the Final Four.

Those who finish third and fourth will get to battle Nos. 6 and 5, respectively, in a best-of-three series, and that is exactly where San Mig coach Tim Cone hopes to finally achieve after what has been an elimination round full of struggles for his Mixers.

At 10-2, Ginebra can still finish No. 1 even if it splits its last two games, because the best that second-running Rain or Shine could do is tie the Kings at 11-3 with a win over Air21 tomorrow also at the Big Dome.

Also an interesting race is the one that’s going on at the bottom of the standings, with the Batang Pier currently holding on to a fifth-place tie with the Meralco Bolts and the Barako Bull Energy.

An upset today would put the Batang Pier safely into the next round, but they would still be sitting on pins and needles until the end of the phase on Sunday to determine the ranking that they will hold.

Meralco battles Petron Blaze, which is in third at 9-4, also tomorrow, while the Energy see action against Alaska in Sunday with the Aces possibly needing that win to stay alive.

Alaska, a preseason favorite, is at 4-9 and can tie Barako Bull for last spot with a win on Sunday. And if Ginebra and the Boosters defeat the Batang Pier and the Bolts, it would create a three-team tie for No. 7.

As of now, only the idle Express have gotten the boot at 3-9.