Aces shoot for no. 2, E-Painters look to end slide
Alaska Milk and Rain or Shine clash Wednesday night at the Cuneta Astrodome in a climactic finish of the cutthroat PBA Philippine Cup elimination round, with the Aces shooting for the No. 2 spot while the Elasto Painters go for the eighth and last berth in the playoff play.
The 7 p.m. setto, closing the one-round-robin elims phase of the all-Filipino tourney, is a virtual playoff match.
A win by the Aces automatically makes them the No. 2 seed with a twice-to-beat advantage versus the No. 7 team in the quarterfinals.
A victory by the Elasto Painters, on the other hand, gives the ROS squad an outright quarterfinals entry, avoiding a do-or-die playoff with the Blackwater Elite for the eighth and last berth in the Final Eight.
Going into the match, Alaska faces two prospects – to finish No. 2 with a twice-to-beat quarters incentive or No. 3 and being relegated into a best-of-three quarterfinals. For Rain or Shine, it’s either a No. 6 finish or a playoff with Blackwater for the last quarters seat.
San Miguel Beer, Alaska, Star, TNT KaTropa, GlobalPort, Ginebra and Phoenix have all booked playoff spots, leaving Rain or Shine and Blackwater in the fight for the last berth.
The E-Painters were among the strong Top Two contenders early on but dropped to a precarious position in losing all their last three games to San Miguel, Meralco and GlobalPort. They blew what had seemed a won ball game against the Beermen and have never recovered since then.
The Aces, meanwhile, zoomed to joint second place with the Star Hotshots following three wins in their last four outings.
Rain or Shine has the edge over Alaska in their most recent head-on matches, with the E-Painters beating the Aces in their Commissioner’s Cup title playoff then stretching their domination of coach Alex Compton and his team in the last Governors Cup.
But momentum is on Alaska’s side now. Rain or Shine, meanwhile, is facing a test of character in its current position.
Certainly, it would help if center Raymond Almazan is finally able to return into action.
Almazan and his teammates scored stirring triumphs over TNT, Mahindra, Blackwater, NLEX and Phoenix before suddenly going on a slump.
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