The Magnolia Chicken Timplados Hotshots are coming off a loss. The Terrafirma Dyip are, too. This Sunday, the two squads will open the PBA’s September schedule when they clash at Ninoy Aquino Stadium, each looking to end the week with a victory. Will the Hotshots dominate Terrafirma? Or, will the Dyip finally bag their first win of the season with an upset of Magnolia?

Catch this game live on Sunday, September 1 at 5:00 pm, Manila time.

Magnolia Chicken Timplados Hotshots(1-2)

Projected Starting Five:

• Jerrick Ahanmisi
• Paul Lee 
• Glenn Robinson
• Ian Sangalang
• James Laput

With already two losses after just three games, is Magnolia already thinking about replacing import Glenn Robinson III? Either way, there must be pressure on Robinson to deliver the goods and lead Magnolia to a victory this Sunday. 

Up against a winless Terrafirma side, Robinson can’t afford the Hotshots to lose if he is to silence the rumors about his possible early departure from the conference. In their last game, the Hotshots suffered an 88-82 loss to the TNT Tropang Giga on Thursday. Robinson had 19 points, 15 boards, and three dimes in that game, but he also coughed the ball up five times. Magnolia’s turnovers were converted into 17 points by the Tropang Giga.

The Hot Shots will also be looking for more support from the supporting cast, including Jerrick Ahanmisi, who produced zero points on three attempts from the floor.

Terrafirma Dyip (0-3)

Projected Starting Five:

• Juami Tiongson
• Stanley Pringle
•  Andreas Cahilig
• Antonio Hester
• Christian Standhardinger

Terrafirma is having trouble farming success this conference. In their latest attempt to grow a win, the Dyip stumbled anew, losing to a Chris Newsome-less Meralco Bolts last Wednesday, 107-91. Terrafirma thought that it got better when they traded for Stanley Pringle and Christian Standhardinger, but that’s obviously not what’s happening on the court. Pringle led Terrafirma with 19 points in the Meralco game but finished with a game-worst minus-26. 

Standhardinger, on the other hand, scored just nine points and went minus-21. Terrafirma has to start getting it together soon. The conference is not that long enough to make space for struggling teams to recover such as Terrafirma, which shot 47.9 percent from the field in the loss to Meralco. The Dyip also got outshot (86-71) by Meralco by a huge margin, which makes sense when you consider the fact that Terrafirma only had 31 rebounds to the Bolts’ 51 boards.

Picks

Spread: Terrafirma (+10.0)

Over/Under: Over (196.0)