The 2024–25 PBA Philippine Cup playoffs already saw two teams extend their series to a winner-take-all, and two more—the Meralco Bolts and Converge FiberXers—will try to do the same. But the San Miguel Beermen and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel surely have other things in mind. Action later today starts with San Miguel and Meralco facing off in the first game, followed by Converge and Ginebra going head-to-head in the second game.
With that being said, here’s a closer look at both matchups
(1) San Miguel vs. (8) Meralco
Key Stats
| San Miguel | Meralco | |
| Points per game | 108.0 | 98.5 |
| Opponent points per game | 93.5 | 98.9 |
| 2PT FG% | 3PT FG% | 55.6% | 34.3% | 51.0% | 29.5% |
| Rebounds per game | 49.9 | 45.2 |
| Turnovers per game | 13.2 | 14.3 |
| Assists per game | 21.9 | 19.7 |
All roads lead to San Miguel during the Philippine Cup, and that’s because of June Mar Fajardo. This conference hasn’t been any different, with the gentle giant norming 17.5 points, a league-best 13.1 boards, and 3.3 dimes to tow the Beermen to the top seed. But it hasn’t been all JMF for San Miguel as a talented—albeit flawed—supporting cast has been helping him out a lot starting with CJay Perez, whose 23.4 markers is leading the league. Even so, for all of San Miguel’s firepower, they aren’t unbeatable, and their Kryptonite, in particular, appears to be tough, disciplined, and defensive-minded teams.
Incidentally, Meralco is one of those tough, disciplined, and defensive-minded teams. Unfortunately for the Bolts, it took them quite a while to find their bearings, hence the precipitous drop to the eighth seed. But they appear to have figured things out before their in-conference BCL detour that forced them out of PBA action for two weeks. Then again, that long break could be a blessing in disguise as Meralco got more time to prepare for the quarterfinals. The hope is that the Bolts used that break to hone their three-point shooting as they’re shooting a ghastly 29.5% from deep.
This pairing is a rematch of the 2024 PBA Philippine Cup, and best believe San Miguel will be out for blood. But there’s a good chance Meralco will be ready.
What San Miguel Need to Do: Run things through Fajardo. San Miguel play best when they’re playing inside-out and feeding The Kraken the ball. No sense deviating away from that bread-and-butter.
What Meralco Need to Do: Hope those outside shots fall and keep the game close. San Miguel’s decision-making when the game’s tight can be iffy at times.
Who Wins? Meralco gets a new lease of life.
(4) Ginebra vs. (5) Converge
Key Stats
| Ginebra | Converge | |
| Points per game | 97.2 | 95.2 |
| Opponent points per game | 88.8 | 90.3 |
| 2PT FG% | 3PT FG% | 53.4% | 35.5% | 51.6% | 31.7% |
| Rebounds per game | 44.3 | 50.2 |
| Turnovers per game | 13.9 | 14.8 |
| Assists per game | 25.2 | 19.0 |
What you see is what you get with Ginebra: methodical (sometimes a bit too much), stick to the script, and sharing the wealth. They’re also peaking at the right time after a mid-conference swoon as they won their last three games—including against contenders in the TNT Tropang 5G and the Magnolia Hotshots—to seal their win-once advantage. Both wins were Tim Cone specials, with the crowd darlings clamping down on defense and sharing the ball on offense. That’s the same formula Ginebra will be banking on against Converge, whom they beat handily early in the elimination round.
Converge, meanwhile, has had a rather curious conference, and their loss to Ginebra was a microcosm of what has been an up-and-down tournament for the upstart FiberXers: They play like legit contenders one game and play mid the next. In fact, Converge sometimes vacillates between good and bad hoops several times during a game. This inconsistency is maddening yet interesting as fans and opponents alike can never truly know if good Converge will show up or if bad Converge will.
One thing is for certain, though. Ginebra will be ready. The playoffs are Cone’s true battleground, and he will stop at nothing to get his troops prepared for whatever Converge will throw at them.
What Ginebra Need to Do: Defend at a high level and stay disciplined at all times.
What Converge Need to Do: Run the offense through Alec Stockton and Schonny Winston.
Who Wins? Ginebra overcomes Converge.
