SAN Miguel Beer is right now the hottest team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors Cup, having won last four consecutive games after starting the tournament with back-to-back losses.
And the Beermen want to stay hot as the Philippine Cup champions battle sister team Barangay Ginebra San Miguel in the main game on Sunday at 5:15 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
In the opener, league-leader Barako Bull (4-1) tries to bounce back against tough (1-3) Rain or Shine squad at 3 p.m.
Since starting the season-ending conference with a 0-2 record, San Miguel has gotten its acts together and won four straight, including a 116-113 squeaker that dealt the Energy their first loss.
“We showed a lot of energy in our last four games and everybody became aggressive,” Beermen Head Coach Leo Austria said of their sudden surge.
Austria added that they have achieved the streak despite injuries of key players.
Import Arizona Reid suffered food poisoning before their Barako Bull game, Arwind Santos has a shoulder injury, while Marcio Lassiter and June Mar Fajardo have yet to fully recover from their own ailments.
Gabby Espinas and Ronald Tubid gave the Beermen a big lift against the Energy while Reid has been the leader of the squad, according to Austria.
They will be facing a well-rested Kings, who are coming off a nine-day break after beating the Elasto Painters, 93-81, on May 22 in Dubai. It was the team’s second win in five outings.
Ginebra Head Coach Frankie Lim has been drawing consistent games from import Orlando Johnson while LA Tenorio, Sol Mercado and Mark Caguioa are expected to provide support for the Kings, who are eyeing their first back-to-back wins under their new coach. In the opener, the Energy aim for the solo top spot against Rain or Shine, which is off to a slow start, winning just once in four games. They are currently tied with Alaska for No. 1 with a 4-1 mark.
Barako Bull’s unbeaten start was snapped by San Miguel but not without a tough challenge from the wards of Head Coach Koy Banal.
Liam McMorrow and Joseph Yeo tallied 31 and 25 points, respectively, for the Energy in that loss, while JC Intal (14), Chico Lanete (12) and Rico Maierhofer (10), who was fined P20,000 for his shoe-palpal incident with Espinas, also hit double figures.
Rain or Shine is holding the ninth spot with 1-3, just a half-a-game over NLEX (1-4) and Star (1-4) and two games over Blackwater (1-5).