Meralco, Star start best-of-5 showdown

Minus San Miguel Beer and its botched grand slam bid, the PBA Governors Cup Final Four still promises to be very exciting and interesting with a pair of matchups pitting teams by corporate rivals MVP Group and San Miguel Corp.

It’s Meralco versus Star on one side of the best-of-five semifinals, and TNT KaTropa against Barangay Ginebra on the other side.

The Bolts and the Hotshots slug it out in the opener of their series at 6:30 p.m. tonight at the Alonte Sports Arena in Biñan, Laguna while the Texters and the Kings begin their face-off at 7 p.m. tomorrow over at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Coaches Norman Black of Meralco and Chito Victolero of Star are bracing for a defensive battle.

“It’s a battle between two good defensive teams so execution on offense will be very important. We have to limit our turnovers because they score a lot off turnovers,” said Black.

“It’s more of a defensive game since both teams thrive on playing tough defense. We need to execute our game plan and give our best effort on both ends of the floor,” said Victolero.

On the eve of the Meralco-Star series opener, Allen Durham’s condition was still a concern.

“We will find out how he feels before the game,” said Black.

The Hotshots would enjoy a crucial edge if Durham won’t be ready to play.

But the fact that Durham was able to return in the last four minutes of their KO game with Rain or Shine and help Meralco salvage the game, 104-96, makes the Bolts confident their import can play on.

“He said it’s pretty bad, but the fact that he came back and played means that maybe it’s workable,” said Black.

The reigning Governors Cup Best Import insisted, though, that he would be ready.

No doubt, Durham was the big difference in Meralco’s top finish in the elimination round of the season-ending tourney.

And despite his condition Thursday, Durham came through in the clutch, helping the Bolts overcome the scary challenge of Henry Walker and the Blackwater Elite.

The prolific Meralco import scored six points in the homestretch capping a near triple-double job with 18 points, 20 rebounds and nine assists.

He’s again the leading contender for the Best Import plum, averaging 27.8 points, 19.4 rebounds and 7.09 assists through the elims. His closest rival is TNT KaTropa’s Glenn Rice Jr. who norms 32.8 points, 11.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists.

As they got past Walker and the Elite in their quarters faceoff, Durham and the Bolts will now face Kris Acox and the Hotshots in the semifinals.

Meralco topped Star, 95-90, in their elims matchup where Durham collected 29 points, 27 rebounds, seven assists, three blocks and one steal against four turnovers.

The Hotshots, however, were still then with Malcolm Hill.

Star made the semis on an 89-77 drubbing of NLEX in their quarters showdown.