MANILA — The Alaska Aces and Rain or Shine will gun for the remaining semifinal slots in the fourth game of the best-of-five quarterfinal series of the 35th Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Fiesta Conference at the Cuneta Astrodome tonight.
Both the Aces and the Elasto Painters lead their series, 2-1, and need to win today’s match to reach the best-of-seven semifinal series.
The Aces, who suffered an 87-91 setback in Game 3, face the Ginebra Kings at 5 p.m. while the Elasto Painters and the Llamados collide at 7:30 p.m.
The winner between the Aces and Kings will face top-seed Talk ‘N Text in the semis.
Whoever wins between the Elasto Painters and the Llamados battle will meet second seed San Miguel Beer in the other semifinal series.
Coach Caloy Garcia of Rain or Shine will again rely on Solomon Mercado, who fired nine points in the overtime period to lift the Elasto Painters to a 117-111 victory over the Llamados.
The 5’11” Mercado, who only had seven points in the regulation period, suddenly exploded with successive triples in the five-minute extension to lead the Elasto Painters’ victory, which moved them just a win away from making it to the semifinals for the second time.
“Through this win, we already got the momentum,” said coach Garcia.
On the other hand, the Kings banked on JC Intal to win, 91-87.
Intal came off the bench and delivered what Mark Caguioa and Willie Miller could not provide to force a Game 4 in their series.
“Who knew it was going to pay off? Who knew JC would play that way? The series is close now and I hope we can pull through this,” said Ginebra coach Jong Uichico.