JuneMar Fajardo vs Asi Taulava. PBA IMAGES
San Miguel Beer guns for the first of two wins it needs to tab an automatic Final Four berth in the Smart Bro-PBA Philippine Cup and make life harder for NLEX in the playoffs when they clash Wednesday at Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay.
Tied for the lead with a 7-1 record with the idle Alaska Aces, the Beermen shoot for the inside track for one of those two semifinal slots and put their fate in their hands while applying pressure on another idle crew, Rain or Shine.
The Elasto Painters are running third with a 6-2 record and a San Miguel win in its 7 p.m. confrontation with the Road Warriors would practically force Rain or Shine into a must-win situation in its last three assignments for one of those berths.
San Miguel will still play Alaska and TNT and a win over the Road Warriors could cushion a loss if it comes at the hands of the Tropang Texters.
The Aces, aside from that game against the Beermen, will still have to face the Painters and then Barako Bull on Dec. 19, while Rain or Shine has Meralco as its third foe to close out its elimination schedule.
NLEX, meanwhile, also needs to win at least two of its last three to entertain thoughts of advancing to the quarterfinals in the upper half of the bracket for a twice-to-beat privilege in the first phase.
Bottom half
With a 4-4 record, the Road Warriors are in the bottom half, their schedule for the rest of the round not getting easier since they will still be colliding with the Painters and then Barangay Ginebra.
Marching on to the quarterfinals with the seventh- to 10th-best record would put a side in a terrible disadvantage of needing to beat a higher ranked foe two straight times to make the second phase.
In the first game, GlobalPort tries to strengthen its spot in the upper half and put the lights out on Meralco when they clash in the curtain-raiser at 4:15 p.m.
The Batang Pier have a 5-3 record while Meralco at 1-8 is within a loss of formally bidding the tournament adieu with 10th running Mahindra already at 2-7 with matches against GlobalPort and Blackwater still on its schedule.
GlobalPort is aiming to finish from third to sixth just for that twice-to-beat privilege in the first phase.
The second phase of the quarterfinals will be best-of-three series pitting the winners of No. 3 vs No. 10 and No. 6 vs No. 7.
The other pairing would have the victors of No. 4 versus No. 9 and No. 5 versus No. 8 for the right to join the top two in the Final Four.