San Miguel and Ginebra headline PBA return FIVE-GAME WINNING STREAK
THE Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup makes its return today after a weeklong break with joint league leaders San Miguel Beermen and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings headlining the scheduled double-header at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.
Both sporting 5-1 records in the mid-season PBA tournament, San Miguel and Barangay Ginebra take on the NLEX Road Warriors and Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, respectively, with an eye on keeping hold of the top spot.
The Beermen and Road Warriors open the festivities at 4:15 p. m. with the Kings and Elasto Painters battling it out at 7 p.m.
San Miguel enters the match looking to get back on the winning track after absorbing its first loss of the tournament in its last game against the TNT KaTropa, 112-103.
Import Charles Rhodes had 43 points in said game but it was not enough to tow his team to its sixth straight win.
Their opponent today, NLEX, has yet to win a game in the Commissioner’s Cup in eight matches but will parade a new-look lineup after acquiring Alex Mallari, Larry Fonacier and JR Quiñahan in separate trades prior to the break.
Barangay Ginebra, for its part, has won five straight after debuting in the tournament with a loss.
The last of its victories came at the expense of the Alaska Aces, a 103-102 squeaker on May 7.
Justin Brownlee has been leading the charge for the Kings with numbers of 27.7 points, 11.5 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 2.7 steals and 2.3 blocks in 37 minutes on the floor.
LA Tenorio is backstopping him with averages of 15.7 points, 4.5 assists and 1.2 steals.
Out to stop the Barangay Ginebra streak is Rain or Shine, which has lost two straight, and four of its last five games, which has negated its strong 3-0 start to the tournament.
The Elasto Painters are parading a new reinforcement in Duke Crews, replacing Shawn Taggart, who reportedly wore out his welcome over at Rain or Shine.
Mr. Crews had a previous stint with the Elasto Painters, averaging 27 points and 15.4 rebounds.
Jeff Chan and James Yap are the top local scorers for the team with 13 and 11 average points, respectively.
The PBA took a break from May 12- 18 to give way to the Southeast Asian Basketball Men’s Championship that took place here and featured the PBA- backed Gilas Pilipinas team. —