The Blackwater Bossing are for real. On a three-game win streak, JVee Casio and the rest of the Bossing will look to extend their win streak against the Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters, who just want to end their three-game losing skid.
Catch this game live on Friday, July 8 at 3 pm, Manila time.
The Blackwater Bossing (4-1)
Projected Starting Five:
- PG: JVee Casio
- SG: Rashawn McCarthy
- SG: Rey Suerte
- PF: Renato Ular
- C: Yousif Taha
If Blackwater keeps up its current pace, there won’t be reasons left why the Bossing shouldn’t be viewed as a legitimate title contender in the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup conference. The rejuvenated Bossing is on a roll, powered by great teamwork and surprising performances. The Bossing, in fact, are No. 1 overall in the conference with a 70.3 AST% – the only team so far who’s got at least 70%.
While Blackwater has two of their last three wins coming at the expense of sub-.500 teams NorthPort Batang Pier and Terrafirma Dyip, it wouldn’t be fair to say that the Bossing’s success is due to a soft schedule thus far; they have beaten the TNT Tropang Giga (85-78) in their conference-opener and the Meralco Bolts (90-89) in their most recent outing. And their only loss was a close one (85-82) against the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel on June 12.
In any case, Blackwater has great momentum coming into this contest against a tilting Fuel Masters unit, hoping that Renato Ular will continue to shine. The rookie is averaging 14.4 points on 57.1 FG% and 7.2 rebounds per game this conference.
The Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters (2-5)
Projected Starting Five:
- PG: RJ Jazul
- SG: Tyler Tio
- SF: Sean Anthony
- PF: Javee Mocon
- C: Kris Porter
The Fuel Masters are coming off a gut-wrenching 114-108 loss to the NLEX Road Warriors. Phoenix’s defense just couldn’t handle Calvin Oftana and JR Quinahan in that contest, but offensively, they still looked fine. Five Phoenix players scored at least 12 points, led by Matthew Wright, who had 19 points. Tyler Tio had 18, while Sesan Anthony and Larry Muyang each had 17.
Where the Fuel Masters need to improve on that end of the floor is ball security, as they are second in the conference with a 14.7 TOV%. The San Miguel Beermen are the worst with a 14.9 TOV%, but they play much better defense than Phoenix, which is third-worst with a 108.1 defensive rating.
Still, it is a good sign for the Fuel Masters that they have won all of their last eight meetings with Blackwater, dating back to 2018. In the last time these teams locked horns, Phoenix came away with a 110-99 win back in December, with Sean Manganti scoring 17 points.
PREDICTION:
Spread: Blackwater (-1.5) covers.
Over/Under: The Over (182.0) hits.
