The Energy eye a share of the lead with Rain or Shine as they shoot for their fifth-straight victiory against the Aces in their 5:15 p.m. encounter on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
League newcomer Shopinas.com also guns for its first win against the talented but struggling B-MEG at 7:30 p.m.
After dropping its opening assignment to Petron Blaze, Barako Bull has racked up four straight wins, the last against the Llamados, 87-84, in overtime on Saturday in Pabano City, Davao del Norte.
The Energy have beaten the elite teams in the league—Barangay Ginebra, Talk ’N Text and B-MEG—but against the Aces who are hungry for a win, head coach Junel Baculi said they could not put their guards down.
“We have to be wary of Alaska. It’s a veteran team. It can win anytime,” said Baculi, who is enjoying his best start as a coach in the PBA.
“And we don’t want it [an Alaska win] to happen on Wednesday. We have to continue improving our game, offensively and defensively,” added Baculi.
What’s making the Energy one of the hottest teams right now is the fact that the veterans, led by Willie Miller, and the rookies, Dylan Ababou and Allein Maliksi, are blending well. The role players on the team have also been contributing off the bench.
Alaska coach Joel Banal, on the other hand, feels beating the Energy is the victory they would want to snatch for them to get into the groove.
“It’s a good game to win for us,” said Banal. “It [Barako] is practically an all-star team. They are on a roll. Our goal is to control their scorers [Miller and Ababou]. We also have to win the battle off the boards because we lost heavily in rebounds in our last two games.”
Alaska was so close to nailing its first win against Meralco on October 28 but the Bolts just hit the important baskets down the stretch and escaped with an 81-75 triumph.
Like Alaska, the Clickers of head coach Franz Pumaren were seconds away from claiming the franchise’s first win in the PBA but they squandered the opportunity, missing crucial free throws in regulations that allowed the Kings to pull off a 94-90 come-from-behind victory in extra time.
Now, Shopinas faces B-MEG, which has only two wins to show in six games under grand-slam coach Tim Cone.
“We have to limit the production of their key players and play consistently for 48 minutes,” said Pumaren, who is hoping that his players have learned their lessons in their loss to Ginebra.
The Clickers were less than a minute away for the victory after leading, 79-74, with 55 seconds left in regulation.
But RJ Jazul and Elmer Espiritu missed their free throws that led to Mark Caguioa’s jumper and Jayjay Helterbrand’s game-tying three-pointer that forced the overtime.
(Joel Orellana)
