Games Today
( Araneta Coliseum)
4:15 p.m. – Alaska vs TNT KaTropa
7 p.m. – San Miguel Beer vs Star
SAN Miguel Beer and Star, sister teams tipped to crowd each other for the PBA Governors’ Cup, are built practically the same way.
Hotshots coach Chito Victolero, though, knows exactly what has been giving the Beermen the edge over everyone else in the past few years that established a modern day dynasty the field is trying to shoot down at the moment.
“They are mentally very tough already,” Victolero said over the phone after preparing his Hotshots for an elimination round clash with their nemesis at 7 p.m. at Smart Araneta Coliseum on Friday. “That’s what has separated us from them so far.
“That’s why in preparing (the Hotshots for this game), I told them that we need to play solid on both ends, to play hard for the full 48 minutes,” he went on. “That’s what we are lacking when we are compared to them, they (Beermen) seem to be tougher mentally.”
Victolero remembers how the Beermen won out in their Final Four series in the Commissioner’s Cup before eventually bagging the championship, the second jewel in San Miguel’s frenzied Triple Crown sweep.
The first year head coach of Star even remembers how the Beermen trumped TNT KaTropa in the title series, and just very recently, a couple of nights ago.
“They seem to know what needs to be done in the endgame. That’s every game,” he said. “Seldom do you see them (Beermen) panic. That’s what we are aiming for.”
With 2-0 records, a victory could mean critical at the end of the elimination round where ties are broken via the quotient system and could mean lighter foes in the early rounds of the playoffs.
Meanwhile, the Texters, after a 97-91 loss at the hands of the Beermen on Wednesday, try to rebound from that when they collide with struggling Alaska in the 4:15 p.m. contest.
Star will be coming off a 101-92 win over the Aces where import Malcolm Hill made his pro career debut.