MANILA – Meralco Bolts is in a must-win situation when it faces San Miguel Beermen at the close of the 2019 Honda PBA Commissioner’s Cup elimination round today at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Currently with a 3-7 win-loss slate, the slumping Bolts must defeat the streaking Beermen to force a knockout for the last quarterfinals seat with Alaska Aces (4-7) on Friday evening.
A loss by the Bolts, however, will eliminate it from playoff contention and will set up the do-or-die tussle between the Aces and Phoenix Pulse Fuel Masters (4-7) for the eighth spot.
“As far as the playoffs go, we’ll see if we can get in,” Bolts veteran Chris Newsome said. “It’s been a long conference for us. Just trying to get over the hump, sometimes it’s hard to break on that wall whenever you keep losing.”
He added: “We just have to keep fighting, keep our heads up, keep supporting one another, and I just try to keep that attitude in the locker room and our practices just keep getting better every day.”
The Beermen (5-5), on the other hand, could not afford to lose the match as well as they could drop to as low as the seventh spot with a twice-to-win disadvantage against the No. 2 seed team and pushing the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters (5-6) to sixth spot.
A victory, however, could move the Beermen to fifth spot against Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings in the best-of-three quarterfinals provided Magnolia Hotshots (5-5) loses to TNT KaTropa (9-1) also tonight.
The Beermen will end up at sixth spot, however, if it wins coupled by a victory by the Hotshots while the Painters will be relegated to seventh with twice-to-win disadvantage.
SMB
will face the No. 3-ranked Blackwater Elite in a best-of-three quarterfinals
series.
For the Hotshots, a victory is also crucial as
it will clinch for it the fifth spot and will face No. 4 Kings in the
best-of-three series.
A loss could land Magnolia to No. 6 against the No. 3 Elite provided the Beermen loses to the Bolts and No. 7 if the Beermen wins.
For the KaTropa, a victory will clinch them the No. 1 seed and with twice-to-beat edge over the No. 8 seed, relegating NorthPort Batang Pier (9-2) to No. 2 also with twice-to-beat incentive over the No. 7.
A loss by the KaTropa, however, will relegate them to No. 2 spot with twice-to-beat advantage over the No. 7 squad while pushing the Batang Pier to the No. 1 spot due to win over the other rule./PN
