Barangay Ginebra and Rain or Shine aim to take care of business when they battle separate lower-seeded foes in the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals on Friday at the Ynares Center Antipolo.
Wearing a twice-to-beat armor, the No. 2 Gin Kings clash against the No. 7 Phoenix Fuel Masters at 7 p.m. while the No. 3 Elasto Painters face the No. 6 San Miguel Beermen at 5:15 p.m.
Ginebra is looking to book a return trip to the Commissioner’s Cup semifinals with its resident import Justin Brownlee, who helped the team conquer the conference twice.
The Kings only need to score a repeat of their 109-96 victory over the Fuel Masters during their elimination round encounter to barge into the final four for the eighth conference in a row.
Veteran coach Tim Cone, however, knows that it will not be an easy task against the Charles Tiu-mentored squad that called up former Best Import Johnathan Williams III as a late replacement.
“They’ve been good all conference long. I’ve been talking Charles up to everybody and he’s doing a wonderful job over there. (Johnathan) Williams is changing the way they play. So, we know we have our work cut out for us but right now we’re just focused on playing one game,” Cone said.
Brownlee and Best Player of the Conference contender RJ Abarrientos are expected to continue leading the attack for Ginebra together with veterans Scottie Thompson and Japeth Aguilar.
Meanwhile, RoS tries to finish off the streaking SMB in their quarterfinal pairing to avoid dropping to a precarious position in a possible do-or-die on Sunday.
“Kapag umabot ng second game then the pressure will be on us,” said the Elasto Painters’ tactician Yeng Guiao, who will bank on Jaylen Johnson and Adrian Nocum in a bid to replicate their 116-112 nipping of the Beermen in their previous duel this conference.
Coach Leo Austria’s charges, led by Gilas prospect Bennie Boatwright and nine-time MVP June Mar Fajardo, will seek to keep the momentum from their late playoff push that saw them wrap up the elims with a three-win streak.
