The Magnolia Hotshots try to bring up the rear of the top six-team cast of qualifiers even as complications loom in the chase of the last two quarterfinal berths going into the final playing date of the 2019 Philippine Cup eliminations.
The losing finalists to the San Miguel Beermen here last year, the Hotshots tackle the NLEX Road Warriors this Wednesday hoping to finish with a 6-5 win-loss slate and advance to the next round behind Phoenix Pulse (9-2), Rain or Shine (8-3), Ginebra (7-3), TNT KaTropa (7-4) and SMB (7-4).
It won’t be an easy task for the Hotshots, however, with the Road Warriors even forging a tie at 5-6 with a win and eventually clinching the No. 6 slot over Magnolia under the winner-over-the-other rule.
But NLEX would still need the help of Barangay Ginebra to avoid the complication of another tie that will happen if the NorthPort Batang Pier, currently deadlocked at 4-6 with the Road Warriors, get past the Gin Kings in Wednesday’s second game.
The PBA quotient system will decide the possible three-way tie with the final score of the Magnolia-NLEX expected to be crucial in the final ranking of the teams. Magnolia and NLEX had earlier beaten NorthPort with respective scores of 103-90 and 95-90.
If NLEX and NorthPort drop their last games, there will be a four-way tie at 4-7 that will include Alaska and Columbian for the last two quarterfinal slots.
Under the tiebreaker, NLEX will get the No. 7 slot with a plus 26 quotient followed by NorthPort with plus five, Alaska with minus 9 and Columbian with minus 22.
NorthPort and Alaska will then dispute the eighth and last berth in a playoff with the winner meeting top qualifier Phoenix in the quarterfinals needing to win twice to reach the semifinals.
As No. 7, NLEX also has to beat No. 2 qualifier Rain or Shine to advance. It will be SMB against TNT and Ginebra against the eventual No. 6 in the two best-of-three duels in the quarterfinals.