Kings, Batang Pier try to finish off foes

IT COULD indeed be a joyful Christmas for two teams belonging to the upper half of the Smart Bro-PBA Philippine Cup playoffs and a gloomy one for two others who could be packing their bags for a holiday break they’d tend to forget.

Fourth-ranked Barangay Ginebra and No. 5 GlobalPort clash with separate foes at Mall of Asia Arena today, looking for that one win that would propel them to the second phase of the quarterfinals of the season-opening tournament.

Should the Gin Kings prevail over Star at 7 p.m. and the Batang Pier repeat over Barako Bull in the 4:15 p.m. contest, both would be spending the rest of the Yuletide season knowing that they’ve progressed while sending their respective foes picking up the pieces of a failed campaign.
Though the Kings and the Batang Pier finished way above their respective enemies in the standings after the eliminations, results of their elimination round clash tend to point to match-ups that could both go the distance.
Star walloped the Gin Kings in their first meeting, leading the crowd-darlings by as large as 31 points on the way to an 86-78 win.
Tim Cone coached the Gin Kings in an official game for that first time in that tumble and that beating still lingers fresh in the mind of the two-time Grand Slam champion.
And the Hotshots would like nothing more than a reprisal of that and put the pressure on the Gin Kings in a do-or-die contest.
“If we win the first game, the pressure would be on them,” Star forward Marc Pingris told the Inquirer after the Hotshots’ clash with the Kings was set. “We know it won’t be easy.”

Greg Slaughter and Japeth Aguilar loom as the edge of the Kings in the match-up that is expected to be a blockbuster at the gates.