Tomorrow could be the last two games of semifinal round of the 2020 Philippine Cup.
The four teams involved in the two series have been playing great basketball overall, and now Barangay Ginebra and Phoenix only need a win apiece to reach the Final.
How is it looking for leading teams? Let’s take a look.
Barangay Ginebra – Meralco
The Kings are currently one win away from reaching the Finals, where they will have a shot to take the PH Cup title away from their sister team the San Miguel Beermen.
Leading the best-of-five series 2-1, fans and critics are expecting Barangay Ginebra to close out the series tomorrow and advance to the Finals, especially coming off a blowout win in Game 3.
Since head coach Tim Cone arrived in 2015, the Kings only made it to the Semifinals of the PH Cup twice and only reached the Finals once.
During the 2016-17 PH Cup, Barangay Ginebra eliminated Magnolia in the Semis in seven games after being down 2-3 in the series. After that, it took on the eventual champion Beermen, who won in five games.
The most recent semifinals appearance of the Kings was back in 2017-18 PH Cup, where they got eliminated by San Miguel once again in just five games of the best-of-seven series.
As for the Bolts, this is the first time that the team has made it to the semifinal round of the PH Cup since entering the league 10 years ago.
The last time Meralco competed in a semifinal series was last year in the 2019 Governors’ Cup where they humbled TNT 3-2, to advance to the Finals.
However, the three-time PBA Import of the Conference awardee Allen Durham did most of the carrying in that series.
The Kings have been the better team in all of the series these two teams have met in. Now, with one win to go, they will surely pull out all the stops they can to win.
While with their backs against the wall, the Bolts will not go down without putting up a fight. It’s going to be tough to make it past Cone’s men, and the Kings are looking like they’re not going to take their foot off the gas.
Now, let’s check out the Phoenix-TNT series
Phoenix has been on a roll in this PBA Bubble season and have continued its stellar play throughout the semifinals.
And now, the Fuel Masters are just one win away from reaching their first PBA Finals in franchise history.
However, despite having the lead, this is the first time in franchise history that Phoenix has had the chance close out a series.
In the last six playoff appearances of the Fuel Masters, they’ve never been ahead.
The only “lead” that they ever had was in last season’s PH Cup where they had a twice-to-beat advantage against Alaska.
But in terms a full series, Phoenix, in its only semifinal appearance before this year, lost to San Miguel last season in just five games.
Although, the squad have been playing at a high level, it’ll be interesting to see how a team that has great talent but raw experience will adapt in the high-pressure game tomorrow.
Their ‘super-team’ opponents, the Tropang Giga, are also under immense pressure. The last time they made the PH Cup semifinals was back in the 2017-18 season and it took on San Miguel in a best-of-seven series.
The Tropang Giga blew a 3-2 lead and the Beermen won the title that year.
TNT haven’t been playing at a high level in the Philippine Cup in the past few years. The last time they achieved greatness in this conference was back in 2010-2013, where they won three consecutive PH Cup titles.
However, since then the Tropang Giga haven’t had much success in this conference and now on the brink of elimination, up against an inexperienced Phoenix team, Game 4 should be a very interesting sight to see.
Who do you think will win each series? Sound off below in the comments section.
