Five teams head for Clark bubble

FIVE teams head for the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) bubble in Clark on Monday, signaling the official restart of the pro league after almost seven months of inactivity because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Terra Firma Dyip, Magnolia, Meralco, Phoenix Super LPG and TNT Tropang Giga will depart from different areas in Metro Manila aboard chartered buses.

If the traffic in the metro is light, it should take the teams some two hours to reach their destination where they will be locked down for the next 49 days—at least for those who make the Finals of the shuttered Philippine Cup.

“We are one of the first batches. We will be picked up by a chartered bus from Azur [Bicutan] at 1:30 p.m., so we will arrive there at around 3:30 p.m.,”terra Firma coach John Cardel told the Businessmirror on Sunday.

TNT team manager Gabby Cui said the Katropa will depart at 3:30 p.m. also via a chartered bus from the Maynilad offices in Balara, Quezon City, while Magnolia will be the earliest to leave at 9 a.m. from the Ronac Center in Greenhills.

“An advanced party is there in Clark to meet the teams,” PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial said.

The team members will again be tested for the virus upon their arrival in Clark. They will be quarantined for two days at the Quest Hotel, their home during the bubble.

The teams will start collective training or scrimmage starting on October 1 at the Angeles University Foundation Gym, a 10-minute ride from the hotel.

The remaining seven teams—northport, NLEX, San Miguel Beer, Rain or Shine, Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, Alaska and Blackwater—will depart on Tuesday.