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| Alin kina Jeff, Calvin, Chris, at Jayson ang magwawagi sa All-Filipino Cup? |
Four teams are still left standing, and have the right to be the first champion of the 40th season of the first professional basketball league in Asia.
Kicking off the best-of-seven semifinals is the match-up of 2nd seed Rain or Shine and 3rd seed Alaska.
Lone eliminations meeting ended 98-95 for Rain or Shine.
Schedule:
Game 1: December 18, 7pm
Game 2: December 20, 5pm
Game 3: December 22, 7pm
Game 4: December 25, 415pm
The Elastopainters are seeking their first All-Filipino title and have done so in spite of injuries affecting their rotation depth, from Chris Tiu and Ty Tang to rookie Jericho Cruz. However, Yeng Guiao has relied on the Elasto-Gilas quartet of Gabe Norwood, Jeff Chan, Beau Belga, and Paul Lee to become the first team to snag a semifinal berth (although tiebreakers pushed them down to second).
The Aces, on the other hand, have ridden on the shoulders of Calvin Abueva, who is second in the league in the Best Player of the Conference race. Calvin is the "face" of the Aces' seeming grit-grind mentality, with Chris Ross being the only significant PBA player of note with a better defensive rating than the Beast.
Rain or Shine takes pride on their league-best pace, while Alaska puts its lunch bucket on their capable rebounding percentage and their defense (tied with San Miguel in best defensive rating).
Set to take place tomorrow is the other semifinal pairing between the top-seed San Miguel Beer and 4th seed Talk 'N Text.
Lone eliminations meeting ended 107-101 for Talk 'N Text.
Schedule:
Game 1: December 19, 7pm
Game 2: December 21, 5pm
Game 3: December 23, 7pm
Game 4: December 26, 7pm
Head coach Leo Austria's didn't stray away from what worked for him in Adamson and with the ABL version of San Miguel Beer. The Beermen play with the slowest pace among the four teams left in the running, opting to use his biggest weapon, reigning MVP JuneMar Fajardo, to his advantage. Along with the Aces, the Beermen have the best defensive rating in the league as well as the best eFG% defense. Of course, they decided to add a new wrinkle with the late addition of ertswhile Beerman Alex Cabagnot from Globalport.
Meanwhile, the Tropang Texters decided to rebuild on the fly, keeping the core intact, while going out and netting themselves two members of the cadet pool in Kevin Alas and Matt Ganuelas-Rosser. They have an average defensive rating, but what gets them going is their offense, with a 104.6 rating. Keying this version of the DDrM is Jayson Castro, while gunners like Larry Fonacier and Jimmy Alapag lie waiting in the wings to lead the sniping brigade from the perimeter.
TV5 will televise the games, while NewsFM (92.3 in Manila, 101.9 in Cebu and Davao, 102.3 in Bacolod, and 97.5 in General Santos) will have radio broadcast. Sports5.ph offers legitimate online streaming (albeit geo-locked to the Philippines) of the games, as well as certain exclusives that neither TV or radio will have coverage on.
