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SERVICES
THE INQUIRER COMPANY
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04
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20
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2024
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SERVICES
THE INQUIRER COMPANY
04
20
2024
Alaska Milk and Rain or Shine clash Friday in a keenly awaited duel with a big bearing in the fight for the top two in the Smart Bro PBA Philippine Cup elimination round.
The Aces seek to regain a share of first place with the San Miguel Beermen while the Elasto Painters look to forge a tie at second with Alaska as the two teams face off at 7 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
It’s a virtual playoff match considering the winner will likely avoid getting through the cutthroat two-phase quarterfinals stage.
That’s why one could sense the eagerness of each team to win the game.
“We’ve been playing a real good conference. We’re still right there at the top. If we beat Alaska, we’ll figure in the semis race prominently,” said ROS coach Yeng Guiao.
“We’ll prepare hard for Alaska. That’s our biggest game right now in the conference,” Guiao added.
The Elasto Painters slid to third place following an 85-95 blowout loss to the TNT Tropang Texters Sunday. But a win by the E-Painters Friday will force a tie between ROS and Alaska at 7-2 with the former enjoying a superior quotient.
Rain or Shine has also beat San Miguel, meaning the E-Painters would also have a superior quotient in case of a logjam with the Beermen.
The two teams are wary of each other.
“Rain or Shine leads the league in a lot of categories including points scored, field goal, assists and fastbreak points. You’d never notice that they are missing one of the best point guard in the league in Paul Lee,” said Alaska coach Alex Compton.
“For us to be able to beat them, we have got to play our best defense in the conference. The difficulty in stopping ROS is that they are great in transition but they are also excellent in the half court,” Compton pointed out.
“We have not to give them layups but also of threes. This game is a great challenge for us,” he added.
Guiao said they have their job cut out for them versus Alaska, especially coming off their horrendous game against TNT.
“My concern is if we turned the ball over 21 times (against TNT) and you next play Alaska, the no. 1 team in forcing turnovers, the next few days we have to find a way to avoid turning the ball over against pressure defense that Alaska applies,” said Guiao.
“We’ll try to avoid getting to that trap again of turning the ball over too many times. Alaska is the best in doing that,” Guiao added. (SB)
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