SMB and Ginebra clashes again in game 3 for semifinals edge.

Photo By Aldrin Alejo

Ginebra San Miguel and San Miguel Beermen will again face each other this Friday at 7pm in Araneta Coliseum to get ahead of their best of five series. The battle has been witnessed to be a close one between these sister teams as they exhibit a very tight kind of basketball. San Miguel Beermen dominated their previous match up despite Junmar’s absence on the court for a couple of minutes due to a cut on his head due to a collision between him and his teammate. Ginebra was down by double digits in the fourth quarter but lived their Never Say Die spirit by getting an inch closer to their sister team opponent by a precarious one point lead. After a time out called by the SMB bench with a few seconds left on the clock, SMB somehow managed to crack a successful play lead by Alex Cabagnot while Ginebra did a great job on the defensive end, making it hard for the Beermen to execute the play drawn by Leo Austria but still found an open guy through Elijah Millsap who scored two points on a penetration drive and a slam.

These two teams will again be tested and will be expected to show a very close game again as Ginebra tries to get back on track and beat their sister franchise while SMB promises to keep their eyes open to every Ginebra execution knowing that this team has this kind of tradition and reputation when it comes to coming back from various huge deficits in the past which left a mark in the PBA history since the Jaworski era.

Another intense match up to be witnessed as Ginebra face Alaska in Quarter Finals.

Photo By PBA Media

After losing against TNT Katropa for a possible 1st spot in the quarter finals, the Barangay Ginebra will again face another rough road on their way to the finals as they chase a win against the explosive Alaska Squad as they found their way in to the 3rd spot.

The clash between these two teams happened in the elimination round where Alaska won the battle at the end of the regulation. But coach Alex Compton is not certain that they will have an edge in this battle for semi finals berth as they witnessed how the Ginebra squad has been successful in their elimination round campaign though they were able to beat them once but that time was a rough time for Ginebra since Justin Brownlee has just joined the team and was not in 100% condition where the Ginebra reinforcement had cramps during their first meeting. The Aces coach said that they will focus on what they do best based on what the statistics says and be the best version of the team coming into this playoffs phase. Alaska only have one game guaranteed if they will not be able to pull off this game on Friday against Ginebra as Compton knows how Ginebra and Tim Cone is familiar with the way they play since Tim Cone has been with the Aces for quite sometime.

On the other hand Ginebra, coming off a loss against the Katropa will now focus on their upcoming head to head match with this explosive Alaska Aces squad. The team admitted that they were not able to deliver what was planned and was not able to showcase the usual way that they play. Ginebra is number 1 in defense across the PBA teams and also one of best teams in terms of assists listed per game. The Ginebra squad is currently on a great conference ever compared to their last campaigns in the past conferences and analysts says this is definitely the right time for them to step on to the finals stage and end their 8year title drought. But its gonna be a long and rough road along their way before getting on to that situation as all of these three teams who beat them in the eliminations might block their way to the finals, Alaska defeated Ginebra in the eliminations and will be facing each other again in the playoffs and even if they win this outing, they might again face the San Miguel Beermen if Leo Austria’s squad wins their own play off match up and if Ginebra wins that battle against San Miguel in the semi final round, the crowd darlings might also face TNT for the 2nd time around in the Finals if TNT overcomes their own opponents in the playoffs. It is a hard result to predict but each team has a fair chance in getting the post season title.

Writer : Nathanie Jayson Sangcap
Twitter @AkoSiDaddyNate

Rain or Shine will face Phoenix Fuel Masters after huge victory against Star.

Photo by PBA Media

Dollard and the Elasto Painters survived another day as they overcome  a possible early exit as they took home a win against the already eliminated Star Hotshots. It was a close battle between the two teams in the first quarter as Rain or Shine only lead by 2 points but eventually established a huge gap in the remaing three quarters.


The Star Hotshots import, Wright had another amazing point production where he scored 27 points leveled with the RoS Import Dollard with 27 points but wasn’t able to do enough with the lack of support from their local players. RoS blasted away with as much as 14 points in the end of the 3rd period.  While on the Hotshots production, PJ Simon Contributed 15 points and Ian Sangalang with 12 points.

This win of the Elasto Painters will give them a chance to have a face-off game against the Phoenix Fuel Masters to get the final spot in the Quarter Finals round. With a three-way tie of RoS, Phoenix and NLEX the spot is to be decided with a game agains the 8th and 9th spot (ROS and Phoenix respectively) While NLEX earns the 7th spot automatically due to quotient system. The winner of this knock out game will be facing either TNT Katropa or Barangay Ginebra San Miguel also depending on the game results on Sunday September 18 in Binan Laguna.

TNT who currently has 9 wins and 1 loss will tie with Ginebra if they lose the game on Sunday and will be decided via quotient on which team to get the tops spot and the 2nd spot on the other scenario, if TNT wins, Barangay Ginebra will have an identical win-loss record as San Miguel Beermen which will also be decided by a quotient system.



The scores:

RAIN OR SHINE 108 – Dollard 27, Belga 14, Lee 11, Quinahan 10, Chan 9, Cruz 8, Almazan 8, Norwood 8, Ahanmisi 6, Ponferada 4, Tiu 3, Trollano 0.

STAR 97 – Wright 27, Simon 15, Sangalang 12, Maliksi 9, Melton 8, Pascual 8, Mallari 6, Garcia 6, Brondial 6, Reavis 0, Barroca 0, Gaco 0.

Quarters: 28-26; 54-41; 80-66; 108-97.

Ginebra’s next assignment, Manila Clasico Showdown.

The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel is off to a great campaign as they grab another win against the rain or shine elasto painters last Sunday Aug 21, 2016 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Ginebra squad lost only two games tied with Mahindra Enforcers on the 2nd spot in the standings.

The Ginebra fans are slowly getting their hopes high, as the team continues to show their strength and unity to make it to the finals. Its been a while since the team made it to the Championship Stage, and this conference maybe one of the best they’ve had. They will be facing 4 more teams before the end of the elimination round and one of these teams would be Star Hotshots.

The Manila Clasico will be held at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Sunday Aug 28, 2016 and will be expected as again a jam packed crowd. The former team of the new Ginebra Coach is currently struggling but will again prove that each team is a contender. Ginebra is a must beaten team as they make it hard for their opponents once the crowd gets involved. These two teams with the most biggest fan-base will again entertain the crowd as they fight for another win on their campaign in this conference.