SAN Miguel Beer and Rain or Shine continue fight for playoffs positioning, carrying their battles in a crucial out-of-town tussle at the Cagayan de Oro City Convention Center down south Saturday.
The Beermen and the Elasto Painters duke it out in a lone faceoff at 7:30 p.m., both out to keep drive to nail a twice-to-beat incentive in the quarterfinals.
At the moment, win No. 8 is the magic number to make the Top Four and avail of the coveted quarters reward.
Both the Beermen and the Elasto Painters are still two wins short, with June Mar Fajardo and Co. at 6-2 and coach Yeng Guiao's troops half-game behind at 6-3.
"We're still trying to make the Top Four, at pagsisikapan namin ito," said Guiao, though, knowing it would take them a lot to accomplish the mission, considering tough closing elims assignments in San Miguel Beer and Barangay Ginebra.
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Then there are ROS' health woes, with the season-ending injury to Felix Lemetti and the condition of Beau Belga.
But Guiao has shaped his team to fight with what they have. And the Elasto Painters are locked-in to do their best to battle the Beermen in their CDO joust.
The E-Painters are coming off back-to-back wins over the Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters (109-99) and the Terrafirma Dyip (94-85) as they set out for entanglement with the Beermen who are riding the momentum of a three-game run after slip-ups versus the Magnolia Hotshots (95-98) and the TNT Tropang 5G (84-89).
San Miguel had had its health issues but should be back in full strength coming from a long break.
Even with just 10 guys the last time out, the Beermen blasted the Bossing, 115-78, on May 25.
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"The players are ready. As I've said before, every player naman can be a starter in our team," said coach Leo Austria, shortly after their 27-point rout of Blackwater, with CJ Perez leading six players scoring in double figures.
Juami Tiongson, Marcio Lassiter and Jeron Teng were out then due to sore eyes.(SB)
