The final quarterfinal pairings are set as the elimination round of the 41st PBA Philippine Cup came to a close yesterday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
The Blackwater Elite clinched their first-ever playoff appearance after they downed fellow expansion team Mahindra Enforcers, 108-99, while the Barangay Ginebra Kings ended their elimination round campaign with a third straight victory by tripping the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters, 91-84.
Mahindra’s Mark Yee (left) and John Paul Erram dispute a rebound in their crucial match yesterday. Blackwater prevail to advance to the quarterfinal round of the 41st PBA Philippine Cup. (INQUIRER PHOTO)
In the first round of the two-phase quarterfinals, the no. 10 Elite will take on the no. 3 Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, while Talk ‘N Text (6th seed) will face the NLEX Road Warriors (7th seed).
Winners in those pairings will take on each other with the victor facing the automatic semifinalists San Miguel Beermen, who are the seeded number two.
The other quarterfinal matches will have Barangay Ginebra (4th seed) versus the Star Hotshots (9th seed) and the GlobalPort Batang Pier (5th seed) against the Barako Bull Energy (8th seed).
Survivors in those pairings will play each other to earn the right to face the other automatic semifinalists and number one seed.
Rain or Shine, Talk ‘N Text, Ginebra and GlobalPort are all armed with twice-to-beat incentives in the first phase of the quarterfinals.
The second phase will be played in a sudden-death affair.
The start of the quarterfinal round will be on Christmas Day at the Mall of Asia Arena with GlobalPort taking on Barako Bull in the first game and Star clashing with Ginebra in the main match.
First to get the boot were the Meralco Bolts and Mahindra.
The semifinal round will be a best-of-seven affair as well as the championship round.
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