- San Miguel Beermen and Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings, owners of twice-to-beat bonuses in the quarterfinals, try to clinch the first two PBA Philippine Cup semifinals berths in one try on Friday.
June 20, Friday – Ninoy Aquino Stadium
- 5pm – Meralco Bolts vs San Miguel Beermen
- 7:30pm – Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings vs Converge FiberXers
Ginebra coach Tim Cone during the PBA Philippine Cup.–PBA IMAGES
MANILA, Philippines—Ginebra coach Tim Cone is not taking Converge lightly in their upcoming PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals matchup.
Despite being armed with a twice-to-beat advantage, Cone said the Gin Kings still have a lot to worry about against the FiberXers.
What concerns Cone most is the twin towers of Justin Arana and Justine Baltazar.
“They have two really solid bigs that are really hard to handle and match up to,” said Cone after their win over Rain or Shine on Saturday in Antipolo. “We know them a little bit because we played them already and we played them out of town.”
San Miguel Beer guard CJ Perez.–PBA IMAGES
MANILA, Philippines—The last time San Miguel Beer crossed paths with Meralco in a playoff series, the Bolts emerged victorious in six games en route to the PBA Philippine Cup title last year.
That was last year. In this year’s iteration of the all-Filipino, the Beermen and the Bolts face off again but this time, in the quarterfinals.
CJ Perez is hoping that history does not repeat itself.
“I think it’s a different ballgame now. The past is in the past,” said Perez after the Beermen’s dominant 126-91 win over Northport to end the elimination round.
San Miguel Beer guard CJ Perez goes for a shot against NorthPort in the PBA Philippine Cup.–PBA IMAGES
ANTIPOLO—San Miguel Beer has obviously shrugged off the disappointment of missing the playoffs in the last conference, and the Beermen are back to their fearsome self as evidenced by a 126-91 destruction of NorthPort for top seeding going into the quarterfinals of the PBA Philippine Cup.
And that rare time that the Beermen missed playing past the eliminations certainly lit a fuse in the team.
“San Miguel isn’t used to missing the playoffs,” CJ Perez, who scored 19 points, said. “And when it happened [last conference], we were totally disappointed, especially management.”
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