The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel will need a win this Wednesday against the TNT Tropang Giga to extend their stay in the PBA Bubble. Will Ginebra force a do-or-die game against TNT? Or, will the Tropang Giga end the title hope of the Barangay?

Catch this game live on September 29 at 6 pm, Manila time.

The TNT Tropang Giga (10-1)

Projected Starting Five:

  • PG: Brain Heruela
  • SG: RR Pogoy
  • SF: Mikey Williams
  • PF: Troy Rosario
  • C: Kelly Williams

The Tropang Giga are waltzing into the playoffs after barely getting touched in the regular season. They finished the elimination phase No. 1 in the standings with a 10-1 overall record. After losing to the San Miguel Beermen on Sep. 8, TNT has gone 4-0, with wins over the NLEX Road Warriors, NorthPort Batang Pier, Alaska Aces, and Ginebra. The Tropang Giga had an easy time dismantling Ginebra in their 88-67 win on Sept. 12. 

Mikey Williams erupted for 27 points in that game, while RR Pogoy and Jayson Castro put up 13 and 14 points, respectively. Williams should continue to be a problem for Ginebra, especially since the Barangay won’t have Japeth Aguilar in the middle. The Barangay could also be down a solid first-level defender in Scottie Thompson, whose status for this quarterfinal contest remains up in the air. Against a Ginebra team that limped into the playoffs, the Tropang Giga are in a great position to send the Barangay home on Wednesday.

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The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel (4-7)

Projected Starting Five:

  • PG: LA Tenorio
  • SG:  Stanley Pringle 
  • SF: Arvin Tolentino
  • PF: Joe Devance
  • C: Christian Standhardinger

Needing a win last Saturday against the Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters to make the playoffs Ginebra leaned on an unlikely hero in the form of Prince Caperal, who led the team with 19 points to go with four rebounds. Expect Caperal to start again on Wednesday, with Aguilar done of the season. Caperal is just an x-factor for the Barangay, who need to coax production from the usual suspects like LA Tenorio, Christian Standhardinger, and Stanley Pringle in order to pass the test against TNT. 

With Williams scoring at will this season, it will mostly be up to Pringle to offset the Tropang Giga scoring machine’s production this Wednesday. Pringle only had 12 points on a salty 5-of-15 shooting from the field in the loss to TNT. Ginebra is also hoping it will find success from deep in this game unlike in the earlier meeting with the Tropang Giga in which it went just 1-of-16 from behind the arc.

PREDICTION:

Spread: Ginebra’s roster is just too thin to survive a well-oiled machine in TNT. Take the Tropang Giga to win and cover (-6.5).

Over/Under: TNT will have its away against Ginebra, though the Barangay will score just enough to help the total hit the over  (169.5).

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