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SERVICES
THE INQUIRER COMPANY
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04
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26
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2024
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SERVICES
THE INQUIRER COMPANY
04
26
2024
Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Only four teams remain in chase of the coveted PBA Commissioner’s Cup crown.
With a lofty goal of a third straight crown, San Miguel Beer is one of the remaining contenders. Standing on its way to the finals is an old rival that is a tough threat as always.
The Beermen and the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters square off in a PBA Final Four showdown for a third straight conference – a battle that could go down as mayhem in May.
The two teams open their best-of-five semifinal series at 5 p.m. Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. The other Final Four matchup between second seed Meralco and fourth ranked Alaska Milk begins Monday night also at the Big Dome.
The Beermen won each of their two previous semis face-offs with the Elasto Painters but coach Leo Austria insists they must always be ready against coach Yeng Guiao and his troops.
Austria said the Elasto Painters are now a tougher package with import Pierre Henderson-Niles as they’ve shown in their two-game sweep of Barangay Ginebra in the quarterfinals.
“Remember, they beat Ginebra na mayroon ding malaking tao (Greg Slaughter),” said Austria.
“Playing against Rain or Shine has always been tough. They push the tempo. They shoot a lot of treys. Coach Yeng gets all his guys to play with a lot of confidence,” Austria also said.
The Beermen, however, are still the wise bet with a roster that has become more lethal with prolific import Tyler Wilkerson – the leader in the Best Import race.
June Mar Fajardo will always be a concern for anybody at the paint while Marcio Lassiter, Alex Cabagnot, Arwind Santos and Chris Ross are the other top guns at Austria’s disposal.
For the E-Painters, an indication that they can compete with the Beermen was a 108-105 decision in their elimination-round tussle.
While the Beermen faced a scare in their quarterfinals matchup with the Star Hotshots, the E-Painters roared to the semis with an amazing two-game sweep of the Gin Kings in their own quarters tiff.
Rain or Shine rides the momentum of a five-game streak going into the semis.
The most consistent E-Painters through the quarters were JR Quinahan (15.0 ppg), Jeff Chan (13.6) and Jericho Cruz (12.1).
Others that can explode anytime are Maverick Ahanmisi, Chris Tiu, Gabe Norwood, Raymond Almazan, Beau Belga and Paul Lee.
Lee is still far from his old form. The ROS coach, however, is hopeful he will get there in the next few games.
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