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HARBOUR
CENTRE and Hapee Toothpaste begin their quest for
another titular showdown as the semifinal series of the
2008 Philippine Basketball League (PBL) Lipovitan Amino
Sports Cup starts today at the Tarlac State University
Gym in Tarlac City.
Batang
Pier and the Complete Protectors finished 1-2 after the
double-round eliminations and are undoubtedly the
favorites to top their separate series and set up
another finals meeting.
Hapee,
runner-up in the last Unity Cup, tests the mettle of
upstart Burger King in Game One of their best-of-five
series at 4 p.m. Harbour Centre, seeking an
unprecedented five straight crowns, battles the
rejuvenated San Mig Coffee in the opener at 6 p.m.
The
finalists in the last tournament enter the game with a
week’s rest. The Whoppers and the Coffee Kings, however,
had to struggle their way to the semifinal round.
Burger
King survived Pharex, 77-71, on Monday in Tanauan City,
Batangas, at the start of the quarterfinals, while San
Mig Coffee recovered from a shocking 89-86 loss before
silencing the upset-conscious Toyota Otis, 68-64,
Wednesday in Malabon City in their winner-take-all
encounter.
Hapee
head coach Louie Alas admits that the Whoppers have the
talent to match them up and they could not take the
wards of coach Allan Gregorio for granted.
“We have
to be ready. We may have beaten them twice but this
[semifinals] is a different story,” said
Alas.
Gregorio
has full trust and confidence on his players that they
are raring to compete with the talented squad of
Alas.
“We have
to prepare for the individual talents of Hapee. We lost
the first time we met because of breaks and in the
second game because of their good defense,” said
Gregorio. “But we have to play with a lot of heart and
intensity and play intelligent basketball for 40
minutes,” Gregorio added.
Filipino-American Gabe Norwood will head the attack of
the Complete Protectors, while Alas hopes that Mark
Borboran, Jervy Cruz and Reed Juntilla would contribute
to the cause of the squad.
For the
Whoppers, Gregorio would bank on the explosive backcourt
duo of Khiel Misa and Marcy Arellano and the outside
sniping of Mike Bravo and Kelvin Gregorio.
Harbour
Centre, meanwhile, used the one-week layoff for team
building after the wards of coach Jorge Gallent lost two
of their last three games going into the semifinals.
They swept their first 12 games.
“The
semis is more important than sweeping the eliminations.
The boys want to prove something, so this is the right
time for them,” said Gallent. |
