MOVING FORWARD
PETRON Blaze could live with a stinging loss, even two.
Not so for Meralco, which tries to get back at one of its tormentors and avoid further complications Saturday in the PLDT myDSL PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Petron has been assured of winding up third and could even share second, if it repeats over the Bolts and should Rain or Shine fall to Air21 Friday evening.
In such a scenario, the Boosters and Elasto Painters would finish the eliminations with identical 10-4 slates, a tie which would be broken by a knockout match to determine which team gains the twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals.
A Petron loss, however, means it plays the sixth-seed in a best-of-three in the next round.
Meralco does not have such luxuries for a loss would relegate it into a tie for the eighth spot, depending on how the other teams battling for the position fare in their last game.
“We know the significance of the game,” noted Bolts coach Ryan Gregorio. “A victory will earn us a slot in the quarterfinals. We are determined to get that done to avoid complications.”
Petron is coming off a 93-112 shellacking from San Mig Coffee last Wednesday, marking its fourth loss in its last six games.
That is a very far cry from the same team that started out the season with seven straight wins, including a 77-73 win over Meralco last Dec. 14 in Dipolog City, and Gregorio knows the Boosters will be bristling not only to get back on track but also to start building momentum for the quarterfinals.
“Petron is not an easy team, especially coming off a humbling defeat against San Mig,” said Gregorio. “We must not only equal their bounce-back genes but we need to surpass them to have a chance against them.“
Meralco is itself still hurting from an 86-89 heartbreaker to Rain or Shine also last Wednesday, when JR Quinahan buried a buzzer-beating triple for his first-ever gamewinner.
It marked the second time Meralco was beaten by a prayer of a shot, the first time by Barangay Ginebra, but rather than be disheartened Gregorio uses those losses to lift up his team’s morale.
“We are staying on course. Our losses, stinging as they may be, shouldn’t discourage us,” Gregorio reasoned.
“It took the two best teams in the league (Ginebra and Rain or Shine) one desperation buzzer beater heave to win against us. We just have to persevere and soon I am certain that we will be rewarded.” (NC)
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