Texters, Kings start semis duel

Coach Norman Black of Talk ‘N Text is not about to take the lowest seed in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup’s Final Four lightly.

“We recognize Ginebra as a dangerous opponent,” Black said yesterday on the eve of Game 1 of the best-of-five semifinal series pitting the Tropang Texters and the Gin Kings  at Smart Araneta Coliseum. “With their solid play and crowd support, they will be a tough out.”

Black is seeking to steer the Texters back to the title series this season, or almost a full year after an epic, seventh-game loss to idle San Mig Coffee.

And right now, the Gin Kings loom as a big stumbling block.

The winner of this series will advance against the survivor of the Alaska-San Mig Coffee duel that will start tomorrow also at the Big Dome in Cubao.

The Tropang Texters swept Petron Blaze in their best-of-three quarterfinal series and will be coming into the 6:45 p.m. game hoping to stop the Kings dead in their tracks after Ginebra had reversed a twice-to-beat disadvantage against Rain or Shine.

“(Vernon) Macklin (the Ginebra import) and LA (Tenorio) will be major headaches,” Black continued. “But we will also not take the others for granted because their support cast has been playing very well.”

That support cast includes a couple of veterans who have supposedly already seen better years, but have both dug deep in these playoffs.

Kerby Raymundo and former MVP Jay-Jay Helterbrand are playing brilliantly and will be major factors in the series against the talent-laden Texters. Mark Caguioa, the reigning MVP who sat out the quarterfinals with a knee injury, could be reactivated in today’s game.

Meanwhile, the proposal of ABC5 to transfer telecast of the semifinals and title series of the on-going Commissioner’s Cup to channel 5 from channel 13 was shot down by the board of governors in a meeting yesterday.

ABC5, though, has the option to telecast the games and replay them simultaneously over channel 5.

In other topics discussed and approved during the same meeting, the league will now discard the waiver rule on imports with the exception on sister teams.

Rookies who come in next year, meantime, can haggle for better deals with the new rule declaring them free agents after their seventh seasons in the league, which will discard the right-of-first-refusal rule.