Meralco must win or go home
Games today (Smart Araneta Coliseum) 4:30 p.m. – NLEX vs Rain or Shine 6:45 p.m. – San Miguel vs Meralco Now a win away from a playoff after surviving three previous knockout matches, Meralco tries to hurdle the final challenge versus San Miguel Beer in the penultimate play date of the PBA Governors Cup elimination round at the Smart Araneta Coliseum tonight. “It’s a knockout game for us, so we will go and give our all,” said Meralco coach Norman Black ahead of their 6:45 p.m. Petron Blaze Saturday tiff with the Beermen who are hot on a four-game roll. “It’s a big challenge going up against San Miguel Beer. To beat them, you must bring your A-game,” Black also said. NLEX and Rain or Shine clash in a nonbearing match earlier at 4:30 p.m. Win or lose, the Road Warriors are finishing at No. 7 while the Elasto Painters are out of the playoffs whatever the result of the match will be. Like NLEX, San Miguel is assured of a playoff passage, win or lose against Meralco. Nonetheless, both the Road Warriors and the Beermen are expected to come out strong and go hard to build momentum going into the post-elims play.
Both will be the lower seeds in the quarterfinals, needing to win two in a row against their highseeded foes to make the Final Four.
The Bolts have a longer route to take to reach the semifinals of the tourney where they finished second in 2016 and in 2017.
First, they must hurdle the Beermen to set up a possible knockout setto with the TNT KaTropa Texters for the eighth and last quarters berth.
The Bolts can gain outright quarters entry if they beat San Miguel while TNT drops its game against Barangay Ginebra Sunday.
But the Texters can also make an automatic quarters passage if Meralco loses to SMB then TNT prevails over Ginebra.
Meralco has stayed in playoff hunt following successive wins over NLEX (108105), Magnolia (94-88) and Rain or Shine (92-81).
San Miguel, meanwhile, has gained automatic playoff entry on successive triumphs over Phoenix Petroleum (117-100), TNT KaTropa (107-96), NorthPort (114-107) and Rain or Shine (109-97).