LAST TICKET UP FOR GRABS

Only one slot is left to round out the playoff picture in the PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals and the knockout game to decide the last qualifier happens at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium tonight. Squaring off in the battle to escape an early vacation are Terrafirma and NorthPort, both finishing the elims with identical 5-6 records.

Awaiting the survivor is the tough task of facing No. 1 San Miguel Beer with a twice-to-win disadvantage. The loser joins No. 10 Blackwater, No. 11 Phoenix and No. 12 Converge by the wayside. The other playoff pairings are No. 3 Meralco against No. 6 NLEX, No. 4 TNT against No. 5 Rain or Shine and No. 2 Barangay Ginebra against No. 7 Magnolia. The Meralco-NLEX and TNT-ROS tiffs are best-of-three encounters while Ginebra will carry a twice-to-beat edge over Magnolia.

The Chicken Timplados Hotshots’ loss to TNT last Sunday was painful. A Magnolia win would’ve kept the Hotshots at No. 3. But the setback brought Magnolia down to No. 7. Five teams wound up tied at No. 3 and the quotient system decided the breakups. Meralco ended No. 3 with +22, TNT No. 4 with +11, Rain or Shine No. 5 with +5, NLEX No. 6 with -3 and Magnolia No. 7 with -35. Magnolia’s drop was fueled by the Hotshots’ 23-point loss to Meralco. To advance to the semis, Magnolia has to beat Ginebra twice in the quarters.

NorthPort is coming off a tight 115-113 win over Blackwater to snap a five-game losing string. Terrafirma, in contrast, is fresh from a 108-100 loss to Magnolia but defeated NorthPort, 110-108, in the elims. Aside from Batang Pier, Dyip brought down Converge, NLEX, Blackwater and Ginebra. NorthPort’s victims were Converge, Phoenix, Meralco, TNT and Blackwater.

Against NorthPort in the elims, Terrafirma led 90 percent of the way but nearly lost after giving up 30 made free throws compared to scoring only nine. NorthPort’s bench delivered 81 points to Terrafirma’s 24 as coach Johnedel Cardel’s short rotation almost blew it. Four Terrafirma players logged at least 30 minutes while only Arvin Tolentino played at least 30 for NorthPort. Cardel’s reliance on a few led to Juami Tiongson fouling out and Stephen Holt, Isaac Go, Mark Sangalang and Javi Gomez de Liaño hobbled with four personals. What kept Terrafirma afloat was its dominance off the boards, 49-38 and a higher shooting clip from the floor, .541 to .467. The rebounding edge also resulted in 10 more field goal attempts with bonus possessions from four more offensive boards.

NorthPort coach Bonnie Tan has the luxury of a deeper bench even with JM Calma’s sidelining due to an ACL tear in the left knee. Tolentino, averaging 22 points, is the team’s top scorer but Tan has other reliables, including Zavier Lucero, Joshua Munzon, Allyn Bulanadi, Cade Flores, William Navarro, Kris Rosales, Fran Yu, Paul Zamar, Jeff Chan and newly-unleashed Damie Cuntapay. Cardel is hoping Tiongson, Holt, De Liaño, Sangalang and Go will hold the fort against NorthPort with Gelo Alolino, Kemark Carino, Andreas Cahilig and Aldrech Ramos playing supportive roles.

2024-05-07T16:32:03Z dg43tfdfdgfd