Kings try to keep bid for No. 1 alive

Photos courtesy of PBA Media Bureau

ANTIPOLO—Barangay Ginebra guns for the first of two wins it needs to bag the top ranking in the PBA Governors’ Cup playoffs, and the Gin Kings would need to go through Eugene Phelps and Phoenix Petroleum today at Ynares Center.

The game, slated at 7 p.m., is as important to the Fuel Masters as it is to the Gin Kings as a Phoenix victory would put it in the mix for the No. 4 slot, which would mean the last twice-to-beat privilege in the quarterfinals that start next week.

As things stand, Ginebra and Phoenix are already in the next round, with the Gin Kings seeking top ranking to get the lightest possible assignment in the quarterfinals and avoid a Final Four collision with defending champion San Miguel Beer.

Not that Ginebra is afraid of anyone in the conference where it has found the rhythm—finally—under the multititled Tim Cone, but the Kings are literally short-handed with the 7-foot Greg Slaughter tipped to be out for the rest of the season because of a right ACL tear suffered in his comeback game last week.

Phoenix needs the win to gain a crack at a playoff for the No. 4 spot with Meralco.

Phoenix will be coming off just its second loss in the seven games that Phelps has played in and the Fuel Masters haven’t dropped back-to-back outings ever since the burly import known as “El Destructor” in the Puerto Rican league arrived.

Right now, aside from the Bolts, Alaska and NLEX are both capable of finishing with 6-5 records. A Phoenix victory would give the Fuel Masters that same slate and the Fuel Masters would need to come up with the second-best quotient to figure in that playoff with Meralco.

The Bolts, whoever they end up tied with in a three-team logjam, would have the best quotient, having beaten all of those teams.

A Ginebra loss in either of its last two games—the last against tournament leader TNT KaTropa on Sunday in Biñan, Laguna—forges a Kings-Beermen showdown in the best-of-five semifinals.

Meanwhile, GlobalPort tries to cling on to its wafer-thin chances of making the quarterfinals when the Batang Pier clash with also-ran Blackwater in the 4:15 p.m. contest.

The Batang Pier have a 3-7 card and a win, coupled by a Rain or Shine loss to Star on Friday at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, would give GlobalPort No. 8 ranking and the chance to play the elimination round topnotcher in the quarterfinals.

The only chance for Rain or Shine, which lost to the Batang Pier, 99-101 in the eliminations, to make the quarterfinals is for the Elasto Painters to hurdle the struggling Hotshots in that Arena game, slated at 7 p.m.