Beermen, Kings tagged as faves in All-Filipino
THE new season of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) kicks off on Sunday with the All-Filipino tournament Philippine Cup with defending champions San Miguel Beermen and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings tagged as favorites.
In the press conference to usher in the new PBA year yesterday at Makati Shangri-La, officials of the 12 competing teams shared that they are picking the Beermen and Kings as having strong chances of claiming the championship even as they vowed that their respective teams will come out competing.
Citing depth of talent primarily and being battletested, team officials of the PBA teams were high on San Miguel and Barangay Ginebra in the season-opening conference of PBA at 42.
“As long as June Mar Fajardo is playing, San Miguel will be a title favorite,” said Ryan Gregorio of the Meralco Bolts.
“Barangay Ginebra has to be up there and they are coming off a championship,” Alaska’s Dickie Bachmann, for his part, said.
With the target on their back, San Miguel’s Robert Non expressed readiness despite being a work a progress still in the lead-up to the tournament.
“We are still finding our way in the pre-season but we are ready to defend the title for the third straight time,” the San Miguel official said.
San Miguel defended the Philippine Cup title last year in historic fashion, bucking a 1-3 finals series deficit to win the championship in seven games over the Alaska Aces, in the process becoming the first team in league history to do so.
The Beermen did the feat with three- time league most valuable player Fajardo playing hurt in the series.
Barangay Ginebra, meanwhile, ended an eight- year title drought by winning the season- ending Governors’ Cup title in a blockbuster championship encounter with the Meralco Bolts.
It was achieved in dramatic way with import Justin Brownlee nailing the buzzer- beating and title- clinching victory.
Also considered as title contenders by officials were TNT Ka-Tropa and Alaska.
The new PBA season commences on Sunday with the opening ceremonies at 4 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Beermen begin their title defense after at 6:15 p.m. against the Star Hotshots now coached by Chito Victolero and feature Paul Lee in their backcourt.