SAN Miguel Beer and Barangay Ginebra begin their titanic PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup quarterfinal collision on Tuesday at the Araneta Coliseum.
Game 1 of their best-of-five QF affair is set at 7:30 p.m.
The matchup features the pro league’s all-time winningest franchise with 31 titles and counting in SMB, going up against Ginebra, the PBA’s most popular squad.
The Beermen barged into the playoffs as the second seed from Group A, thanks to their 9-3 record in the elims.
On the other hand, the Gin Kings limped into the playoffs as the fourth seed from Group B, no thanks to their 5-5 record.
But knowing the higher stakes that go with the playoffs, anything that happened in the elims won’t matter now for Cone, who is the winningest PBA coach with 26 league titles.
The American mentor remains the hottest coach in the league, having won eight PBA titles since moving over to coach Ginebra in 2015.
The Beermen have won five of their last six matches with high-scoring import George King at the forefront.
And the sweet-shooting King easily fits into the powerhouse Beermen side, being a solid threat who not only scores in bunches, but can defend and pass at the same time.
June Mar Fajardo, CJ Perez, Marcio Lassiter, Don Trollano and Jericho Cruz are all grizzled veterans.
The Gin Kings will have Jordan Murphy leading the way, along with Scottie Thompson, Japeth Aguilar, Troy Rosario and do-it-all sophomore guard RJ Abarrientos.
Meanwhile, Rain or Shine and Converge square off at 5:15 p.m. to begin their own quarterfinal series.
Guiao’s charges enter the playoffs as the second seed from Group B, after ending the elims with a 6-4 record.
ROS faces a Converge side that is on a tear, winning its last five games with returning import Cameron Clark in tow.
“The longer you play in the PBA the more you get to familiarize with the game,” said Guiao in citing the 35-year-old Clark’s role in the FiberXers’ resurgence en route to an 8-4 record in the elims.
Clark played under Guiao when the fiery PBA mentor was still handling NLEX years back.
Clark has been back in the PBA playing as well for SMB, Hong Kong Eastern, before becoming Converge’s third import for the conference.
