TNT KaTropa seeks the first of two wins it needs to nail a first-round bonus in the PBA Governors’ Cup playoffs against the tournament’s hottest team of late, GlobalPort, at Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao today.
Coming off their first defeat in the season-closing conference, the Texters take on the streaking Batang Pier in the 4:15 p.m. contest.
The game will basically pit GlobalPort’s high-octane offense against TNT’s tried and tested defense.
GlobalPort has sprung back to life with three straight wins, using the Terrence Romeo-Stanley Pringle combo to befuddle all defenses.
San Miguel Beer clashes with Meralco in the 7 p.m. game gunning for a victory that would pull the Beermen into a second-place tie with idle Barangay Ginebra and surprising Mahindra.
Finishing in the top four is the goal of all the teams playing in today’s regular twinbill.
A win by TNT would boot the Batang Pier out of the top four and give the Texters some kind of a luxury in choosing a first-round opponent in the playoffs with still three games left.
A total of eight teams will advance but those who will wind up in the bottom half of the draw would have to beat higher-ranked foes two straight times to march on.
And that will be the main motivation that Meralco would use against the Beermen, who will parade new import Mike Singletary as they shoot for a third straight victory and sixth in eight games overall.
A San Miguel victory would more or less shut the door on the Bolts’ aspirations of bagging a twice-to-beat quarterfinal privilege, making the round’s last playdates as time for TNT to jockey for position, granting it wins against GlobalPort, the Enforcers, the Beermen and the Gin Kings.
Wins for the Bolts and the Batang Pier would muddle up the standings, with the Bolts putting themselves firmly in the top-four fight and GlobalPort keeping its outside chance.
TNT has led the conference right from the start and stayed at No. 1 even after tumbling against giant-killer Mahindra last week.
Jason Castro, Ranidel de Ocampo and a host of other local veterans must be steady offensively to make up for import Mychal Ammons’ on-and-off offense.
Mike Glover is also not a high-scoring import for the Batang Pier, who are guards-dependent with Joseph Yeo also able to come up with huge numbers. Jay Washington, Billy Mamaril and Yousef Taha are the big men that would need to step up big for GlobalPort.