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Wednesday, December 28, 2005
No holiday break for PBA teams as playoff approaches
Games on January 4 (Astrodome):
4:40 p.m. - Talk n Text vs Air21 (playoff for fourth spot)
7:25 p.m. - Red Bull vs Ginebra (playoff for second spot)
THE San Miguel Coffee PBA Fiesta Cup will not resume until after the Christmas holidays but practically all the teams do not intend to rest, determined to work hard in practice with hopes of reaching peak form in time for the next phase of the tournament.
So it is a working holiday for all the teams except for the Purefoods Chunkee Giants who were given a three-week respite by coach Ryan Gregorio for topping the classification round that earned an outright passage into the semifinals.
Red Bull Barako, Barangay Ginebra, Talk n Text and Air21, which will clash in a pair of rubbermatches on January 4, to decide their placings in the playoffs.
The Barakos and the Kings will dispute no. 2 spot that also rewards the winner an outright spot semifinal while the Phone Pals and the Express battle for the no.4 spot.
Also keeping themselves busy are the Coca-Cola Tigers and defending champion San Miguel Beermen who will face-off in the survival round on January 6 to determine the last wildcard qualifier.
Because they wound up ninth and last in the double-round classification phase, the Tigers will have to beat the Beermen twice to join the Alaska Aces, the Sta. Lucia Realtors and either the Phone Pals or the Express in the best-of-three wildcard playoffs.
"We need to forget the Christmas season. We still have our chances and we'll go for it," said Coca-Cola coach Binky Favis.
But no team would have a busier schedule this Christmas season than Barangay Ginebra.
The Kings battled and beat the Aces, 96-89, on Christmas Day and will only take a one-day rest on New Year's Eve before facing the Barakos in a knockout match for the second semifinal berth.
"We can't afford to take a rest," said Ginebra coach Siot Tanquingcen.
The Barakos are not leaving any stone unturned either with the coaching staff now in the process of evaluating whether they need to replace import Quemont Greer or not. To prove they mean business, they have brought in Penny James on stand-by.
The winner of the Red Bull-Ginebra playoff joins early semifinalist Purefoods Chunkee while the loser settles for a place in the quarterfinals along with the winner of the Talk n Text-Air21 showdown.
Moments after ending their classification round stint with a rout of San Miguel on Friday, Talk n Text coach Joel Banal said they are already looking forward to play on January 4.
"We can no longer avoid that (playoff). So our mindset is to be ready for January 4. In between Christmas and New Year, we're going to work hard and hope it pays off," said Banal.
Curiously, Air21 settled for a playoff for a quarterfinals seat although it was the first team to hit nine wins against seven losses before Red Bull, Talk n Text and Ginebra followed suit.
"We're quite frustrated with how things went through. But we still have to be in high spirits because we have a chance to gain outright entry into the quarters," said the Air21 coaching staff. (PR/PBA/Sunnex)
(December 28, 2005 issue)
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