Games on Wednesday
(MOA Arena)
5 p.m. – TNT vs Rain or Shine (semis game 1)
7:30 p.m. – San Miguel vs Barangay Ginebra (semis game 1)
THE throne is vacant and there’s a great mix of contenders in the semifinal round, all with compelling motivation, gunning for it.
TNT continues its spirited chase for a rare grand slam in the PBA’s Season 49 wars, looking to annex the Philippine Cup trophy after conquering both the Governors’ and Commissioner’s Cup tournaments.
The flagship franchise of the MVP Group was in the same situation before in 2011 but just fell short of claiming the final jewel for the hat trick so expect the current team of coach Chot Reyes, injury woes and all, to move heaven and earth and follow it through this time.
Ranged against TNT are the Rain or Shine (ROS) Elasto Painters, who are out to prove they belong. Yeng Guiao’s youth-laden crew showed promise in making the Final Four consistently, though unable to hurdle this stage in its first three tries. Toughened by this experience, ROS is intent on getting over the hump now.
TNT, ranked sixth in the playoffs, and ROS, seeded seventh, took identical routes in forging a third straight semis faceoff, beating higher-ranked opponents Magnolia (No. 3) and NLEX (No. 2) twice in the quarterfinals.
Pitted in the other side of the Last-4 are top seed San Miguel Beermen (SMB) and No. 4 Barangay Ginebra. The twice-to-beat Beermen dethroned No. 8 Meralco with a quick quarterfinal dispatching while the Gin Kings made shortwork of No. 5 Converge in setting up a rematch of their semis confrontation in the season-opening Governors’ Cup.
The sister teams but fierce rivals are the two winningest clubs in the league with 29 and 15 championships, respectively, but they’ve been on a drought of late.
The Beermen haven’t tasted triumph since the Season 48 Commissioner’s Cup in early 2024 and their last finals appearance, in the same season’s All-Filipino, ended in a 2-4 defeat at the hands of first-time champ Meralco.
SMB then infamously bungled its Commissioner’s Cup title-repeat bid this season as it failed to get past the preliminaries. But Leo Austria’s troops are back with vengeance in the season-ending conference, raring to bring back the franchise’s winning tradition.
Redemption is what fuels the Gin Kings, who have been to the Last Dance thrice in the last five conferences but were thwarted each time by Rondae Hollis-Jefferson-bannered TNT.
And after back-to-back bridesmaid finishes to start this season, Tim Cone’s charges are determined more than ever to hit paydirt at last.
The explosive semifinal duels kick off on Wednesday at the MOA Arena with TNT and ROS disputing the head start in the race-to-four at 5 p.m. and SMB and Ginebra eyeing first blood at 7:30 p.m. — Olmin Leyba
