SAN MIGUEL Beer, on a tournament-best seven-game winning streak, guns for an outright Final Four slot today when it battles an Alaska side that also has a shot at one of those berths in the Smart Bro-PBA Philippine Cup at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Tip-off is at 7 p.m. with the Beermen given the slight edge owing to their super sharp form with their last victory, an easy ripping of TNT over the weekend.
San Miguel has not lost since Nov. 4, when Rain or Shine scored a 99-84 victory.
But the Beermen awakened like no other after that, bamboozling everyone that stood in their way to move on the cusp of yet another trip to a conference playoff as the top seeds.
The Elasto Painters, meanwhile, will be slugging it out with ousted Meralco in the 4:15 p.m. curtain-raiser looking to stay in the hunt for the No. 1 ranking which could take shape if Alaska scores a victory later.
The only way for Rain or Shine to claim No. 1 is for the Painters to defeat the Bolts and then the NLEX Road Warriors on Saturday coupled with an Alaska win over San Miguel today and Barako Bull also on Saturday.
In that scenario, the Aces would also stay in the hunt for an automatic semifinal berth as they would again play San Miguel in a KO match for No. 2. Rain or Shine would seize the top ranking for beating both the Beermen and the Aces in the eliminations.
If San Miguel wins, it would claim No. 1 and Rain or Shine, provided it wins its last two games, would claim No. 2. A loss would send the Painters into a KO game for that privilege by the Aces, provided they beat the Energy.
The Beermen’s edge against the Aces remains their frontline of June Mar Fajardo and Arwind Santos, the MVPs of the last three seasons who led the thumping of the TNT Tropang Texters over the weekend.
Alaska coach Alex Compton would have to devise a defensive trap to limit the production of the duo, although the Aces really don’t have anyone who can match up with the 6-foot-10 Fajardo one-on-one.
The Aces’ trump card remains to be their swarming full court press, and coach Leo Austria of San Miguel is fully aware of that.