The San Miguel Beermen and the Meralco Bolts lock horns in tonight’s lone game, with the winner advancing to the semis of the 2020 PBA Philippine Cup.
With odds against their favor, the Bolts were all business last Friday at the Angeles University Foundation Sports Center in Angeles, Pampanga when they defeated the twice-to-beat Beermen, 78-71, to arrange a do-or-die, winner-take-all match tonight at 6:45 pm.
Already in the semis are eliminations top-notcher Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, which dispatched the Rain or Shine Elastopainters, 81-73, through the heroics of spitfire guard Stanley Pringle. The Gin Kings will meet the winner of the San Miguel Beer-Meralco match.
If the Beermen prevail, it will be a titanic battle between the sister teams, one out to capture a record six straight Philippine Cup title, the other longing for its first-ever Philippine Cup diadem it last won 13 years ago.
If the Bolts win, it will be another rematch of sorts. The Tim Cone-mentored Gin Kings and the Bolts of Norman Black were rivals in three Governors’ Cup championships (2016, 2017 and 2019), with the Gin Kings prevailing in all three meetings. However, there will be no Justin Brownlee, the Gin Kings’ resident import, this time so expect the Bolts to go all out and exact revenge on their perennial tormentors, moreso during the battle for the league’s most prestigious crown.
Also interesting to watch with its own storyline will be the other semifinal pairing between the TNT Tropang Giga, which bamboozled the Alaska Aces with a 104-83 blowout, and the Phoenix Super LPG that took care of Magnolia Ang Pambansang Manok via a nip-and-tuck nail-biter, 89-88, courtesy of a late triple by top player Matthew Wright.
Particularly interesting will be the first meeting in an actual ballgame between two of the teams’ marquee players, TNT’s Bobby Ray Parks Jr. and Phoenix’s Calvin Abueva after the indefinite ban meted on Abueva last year was lifted after 16 months.
Last year, Abueva was suspended and fined heavily because of two infractions, one for making lewd gestures directed at the girlfriend of Parks, who was playing for Blackwater at that time, and for making a clothesline tackle at TNT’s former import Terrence Jones.
So whatever semis pairings end up, expect the 2020 PBA Philippine Cup to be another slam-bang affair.
(Photo credit: pba.ph)