Murky Blackwater mark grabs spotlight amid race for bonus

Shawn Glover (No. 34) has been dazzling for Blackwater, but his efforts have been going down the drain. —PBA IMAGES

The elimination round of the PBA Governors’ Cup winds down to its final two days, its last four games.

And instead of the focus being on TNT and Meralco chasing that last twice-to-beat bonus in the first round of the playoffs, all eyes will be trained on the Magnolia-Blackwater match on Wednesday that really has nothing on the line but a game neither side could afford to lose.

The Hotshots will come into the 6 p.m. match at Smart Araneta Coliseum with one thing pounded on their minds by coach Chito Victolero.

“I told them that we always play to win,” Victolero told the Inquirer over the phone on Tuesday as his crew battles the Bossing who are trying to avert a second shut-out conference and win for the first time in their last 30 games dating back to the tail end of the 2020 Philippine Cup inside the Angeles bubble. “I reminded them to always respect our opponent and respect the game.

“So everyone can be sure that we won’t be taking it easy,” said Victolero, who also bared that he will have everyone on deck for the no-bearing match save for Calvin Abueva.

“He’ll be available for the playoffs,” he said. “He still hasn’t been able to join us in full contact practices.”

Blackwater already has the longest losing streak in the league at 29 games and is down to its last shot at finally winning one or go 0-22 over two conferences—the league’s first winless season.

Meanwhile, TNT clashes with ousted Terrafirma in the 3 p.m. game with the Tropang Giga needing no less than a sweep of their last two outings to entertain thoughts of gaining a quarterfinal bonus outright.

Another team still in the hunt for that is Meralco, which battles Phoenix on Friday, the same day TNT pulls the curtains down on the classification round when it collides with red-hot NorthPort.

As things stand, Magnolia is already assured of No. 1 and idle NLEX No. 2. The top four teams get win-once incentives in the quarterfinals.

San Miguel Beer has closed out with a 7-4 record and could end up tied with Meralco and TNT in case the Bolts triumph over the Fuel Masters and the Tropang Giga sweep.

The quotient system will come into play in that case.

Already out of the running together with the Bossing are the Dyip with a 2-8 record and Rain or Shine, which couldn’t sustain a hot start and closed out with a five-game losing streak. INQ