DANNY Ildefonso of Meralco (left) and Jason Ballesteros of Blackwater contest the rebound in a recent match. Meralco has a twice-to-beat edge against Purefoods in the quarterfinals. AUGUST DELA CRUZ
THE ABILITY of the Purefoods Hotshots to get out of tight spots which they exploited to pull off a Grand Slam last year, will be tested anew tonight.
Purefoods’ PBA Philippine Cup is literally on the line this early as the Hotshots try to win the first of three KO matches starting with its clash against Meralco at 7 p.m. at Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay.
Purefoods qualified as the seventh seed for this phase of the quarterfinals and need to beat the No. 6 Bolts two straight times to make it to the next phase where another do-or-die match awaits.
“It’s good that we have a twice-to-beat advantage against Purefoods,” said Meralco coach Norman Black, who earned another chance to eliminate Tim Cone after failing to do so twice last season.
“We intend to take full advantage of that,” added Black, who lost in the Commissioner’s Cup Finals and then in the Governors’ Cup Final Four to Cone and the then-San Mig Coffee Mixers last year.
Purefoods cannot blame anyone for the predicament that it is in, though Cone blasted the format on Tuesday afternoon after being relegated to the bottom half of the qualifiers because of an inferior quotient.
The Hotshots opened up the season with a 1-3 mark and lost two straight crucial games late in the eliminations as they fell into a tie for fifth spot with Barangay Ginebra and the Bolts with 6-5 records.
Meanwhile, Alaska shoots for that one win it needs against No. 10 NLEX in the 4:15 p.m. game with the Aces favored to advance against either the Bolts or the Hotshots for a place in the Final Four.
San Miguel Beer, the tournament No. 1, and second-ranked Rain or Shine will be watching the others for the next eight days or so before knowing who their respective semifinal foes would be.
The Beermen, incidentally, boosted their stock for these playoffs by reacquiring perennial All-Star Alex Cabagnot from Globalport in exchange for Sol Mercado and San Miguel’s first round Draft rights in 2018 and 2019.
Cabagnot, the most consistent player for the Batang Pier, and Mercado, who has struggled the entire time while with San Miguel, will be going back to their old teams after the deal was approved before the trading deadline yesterday.
The survivor of the Alaska-NLEX and Meralco-Purefoods series will advance opposite the red-hot Elasto Painters in a best-of-seven semifinal series.
San Miguel’s opponent will be the victor of the Talk ‘N Text-Barako Bull and Ginebra-Globalport quarterfinal series, which plays its first game tomorrow at Ynares Center in Antipolo.
On paper, Purefoods looks to have the edge over the Bolts, especially on the frontline with only Reynel Hugnatan the consistent big man for Black.
Marc Pingris, James Yap, Mark Barroca and Peter June Simon will lead the Hotshots, who won this tournament in seven games against the Painters last season.