The PBA Commissioner’s Cup elimination round is down to its penultimate play date, and the games will fittingly be played at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. The first game will pit the NLEX Road Warriors against Hong Kong Eastern. The second game will be a collision between rivals Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and Meralco Bolts.
NLEX Fights for Playoffs as Eastern Looks to Stay in Top Six
The first game between NLEX and Eastern is crucial both ways. A win will be the Road Warriors six in the midseason tourney and assure them of at least a playoff with the Magnolia Hotshots for the eighth and final quarterfinals slot. A loss, on the other hand puts their fate beyond their control, as a win by Magnolia against Meralco on Sunday will eliminate them outright at 5-7.
A win for Eastern, meanwhile, assures they’ll stay in best-of-three territory with an outside shot at getting a top two seed. This could happen if Eastern ends up tied with Ginebra, Meralco, Converge FiberXers, and TNT Tropang Giga at 8-4. A loss, on the other hand, could send them plummeting all the way to seventh. This would be the scenario if Ginebra and the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters lose their final assignments, at which point the three teams will wind up tied at 7-5. In this case, Ginebra (1.135) will end up fifth with the superior quotient, Rain or Shine (0.950) at sixth, and Eastern (0.920) at seventh.
Game time is set at 5:00 p.m.
Meralco Takes on Ginebra in Seedings Battle for PBA Commissioner’s Cup Quarters
Rivals Meralco and Ginebra tangle in the main game with higher seedings in play for both. For the Bolts, winning their last two assignments—against Ginebra and Magnolia—means they’ll end up as no. 1 as they own the winner-over-the-other tiebreak over the NorthPort Batang Pier in case they end up at 9-3. In case of a triple-tie with NorthPort and the TNT Tropang Giga, Meralco still will get the top seed by virtue of a superior quotient (1.077 to TNT’s 0.985 and NorthPort’s 0.942).
Ginebra, meanwhile, is assured of landing anywhere from fourth to six—otherwise known as best-of-three territory. With a win, the crowd darlings can end up as high as fourth in two ways:
- Eastern wins later and Meralco and Rain or Shine win on Friday. In this case, Ginebra, Converge, TNT, Meralco, and Eastern all end up at 8-4, with Eastern nabbing no. 2 with a quotient of 1.082. Converge (1.025) finishing third and Ginebra (0.9839) getting fourth (0.984). TNT (0.961) and Meralco (0.9442) round up the top six.
- Eastern wins later and Magnolia and TNT win on Friday. In this scenario, Ginebra, Eastern, and Converge end up tied at 8-4, with Eastern (1.071) earning the third seed. Ginebra (0.989) gets the fourth seed and Converge nets the fifth seed (0.981).
A Ginebra loss, on the other hand, means the crowd darlings will fall to sixth.
Game time is set at 7:30 p.m.
