Streaking SMB takes on NLEX
San Miguel Beer guns for a sixth straight win to enhance its standing in the playoffs when the streaking Beermen battle the resurgent NLEX Road Warriors as the PBA Governors’ Cup enters its most crucial stretches at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Tip-off is at 7 p.m. with the Beermen installed as the slight picks due to the sharp form they’ve displayed the past three weeks or so even as Alaska shoots for a berth in the playoff yet again against dangerous KIA Motors at 4:15 p.m.
San Miguel hasn’t lost since dropping a 106-95 decision to Meralco last May 9, but the Beermen will be up against a desperate side in the Road Warriors, who are being led by a solid inside-outside combo in Kwame Alexander and Michael Madanly.
Madanly, recovered fully from a neck injury that slowed him down in the first five games, and Alexander, who earned a new lease on his PBA career by following instructions to attack the basket, will be coming off overpowering performances for the Road Warriors.
Arizona Reid and a battery of superstar locals led by reigning MVP June Mar Fajardo will be the Beermen’s answers to the NLEX awesome twosome as San Miguel, already assured of a quarterfinal berth, guns for better positioning and a lighter assignment in the first round of the playoffs.
Alaska, meanwhile, tries to pick up the pieces of a sputtering stand against the Road Warriors the last time around that stalled its march into the next round.
On the other end of the floor against the Aces will be the formidable Carnival led by shotblocking machine Hamady N’Diaye and a host of under-rated locals itching to prove that they belong in the league.
Alaska blew command early in the third quarter against the Road Warriors when import Romeo Travis and Cyrus Baguio and JV Casio had a prolonged stint on the bench.
The Aces—man-for-man—are the favorites against the Carnival, especially if Travis can lure N’Diaye out of the paint with timely connections from the perimeter.
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