Meralco looks to punch its twice-to-beat ticket in the quarterfinals of the PBA Governors’ Cup as early as possible and hopes it can do so Friday against GlobalPort at Mall of Asia Arena.
And with the top four seeds still up for grabs, Bolts head coach Norman Black knows they’ll have to make the most of having their fate still in their hands.
“I think you need at least eight wins to get the twice-to-beat advantage and we still have two games left and there’s a lot of teams fighting so this is the time of the conference when you need to win games,” said Black.
Meralco owns a 7-2 record and will look to book that eighth win today in the duel against the Batang Pier, who are already out of the quarterfinals picture after slipping to a 3-7 record.
“That’s really the goal this conference, to try to get that twice-to-beat advantage because that’s the incentive,” said Black, whose team sits at second spot behind Ginebra’s 8-2 record.
The top four teams of the tournament at the end of the elimination round will have twice-to-beat boosts in the quarterfinals. And although the Bolts have a lofty slot, defending champion San Miguel Beer, NLEX, and TNT all have 7-3 records, and can bump off Meralco from its perch.
In a conference where a win or a loss can drop a team several spots down the standings, Black knows he has his work cut out for him against GlobalPort, which is hoping to exit the season with a win.
In the other matchup, Star will look to bounce back after losing to TNT, 104-99, on Sept. 17 as the 5-4 Hotshots look to add another loss to Kia’s 0-10 slate.