MANILA, Philippines—Just as the league enters the playoffs, four of the teams that didn’t make the next round of the PBA Philippine Cup rejoined their families outside of the bubble.
NorthPort, TerraFirma, Blackwater, and NLEX have all left Quest Hotel, the league’s official lodging, in Clark the past couple of days.
The Batang Pier were the first to leave the confined environment s on Wednesday after their dreaded elimination round ended at 1-11 with the last loss an 80-73 defeat to fifth seed Meralco.
The Dyip, who tied NorthPort at the bottom of the standings with identical records, the Elite, and the Road Warriors left the bubble on Thursday.
Blackwater finished at 10 with a 2-9 record no thanks to a disappointing eight-game skid after starting off 2-1.
NLEX, meanwhile, was the only team to end its stay with a win after beating the Dyip, 127-101 for a 5-6 record. It just missed out on that six-win requirement to enter the quarterfinals.
The playoffs begin Friday with defending champion and fourth seed San Miguel taking on the Bolts in its bid to start a potential sixth straight title run at 4 pm.
Barangay Ginebra will then face Rain or Shine at 6:45 pm for the 1 vs 8 matchup.