THE PBA hops over from Rizal Memorial Coliseum to Ynares Center in Antipolo, Rizal Sunday in bringing a Sunday double-header ahead of the All-Star Weekend in Bacolod.
San Miguel Beer and TNT Tropang Giga clash in a heavyweight battle at 6:15 p.m. to highlight the Antipolo gig, serving as warm-up for Beermen June Mar Fajardo, CJ Perez, Terrence Romeo, Marcio Lassiter and Don Trollano and Tropang Giga Calvin Oftana and Jayson Castro for their stint in the All-Star Game on March 24.
And it's a battle for the two teams with the Beermen out for a 2-0 start in the season-ending all-Filipino tourney and the Tropang Giga chasing a third win in four outings.
From their Commissioner's Cup title run, the Beermen marked their return to the court with a 109-97 rout of the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters.
The Tropang Giga, on the other hand, clipped the Terrafirma Dyip, 100-97, on March 9, a turnaround from an 87-76 upset by the Blackwater Bossing.
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Coach Chot Reyes and his TNT chargers are at 2-1 going to their face-off with coach Jorge Gallent and the Beermen as the Tropang Giga opened the conference with a 108-107 decision over the Elasto Painters on Feb. 28.
Dominant was San Miguel in its own conference debut versus Rain or Shine, sending the Elasto Painters to a fourth straight loss.
There were no jitters nor hangover as the Beermen hit the ground running with a full team including the returning Romeo and Vic Manuel.
"The players are all just locked-in again now," said Gallent. "They knew what this game meant because it's our first game of the conference and it's really good to start on the winning note. That's why they played hard today."
In winning the Commissioner's Cup, the Beermen are in chase of a season sweep - something not a single team was able to achieve during the time when the league shifted to two-conference season, featuring the Fiesta Cup and the Philippine Cup.
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"Our last four practices were especially intense and we brought this into the game," said Gallent, hinting at their intention to go hard in pursuit of a Philippine Cup title repeat.
And they have a talent-laden, star-studded lineup to do it, led by their five All-Star players plus the likes of Jericho Cruz, Moala Tautuaa, Jeron Teng, Simon Enciso and Chris Ross.
Lassiter served as fire-starter with his barrage of triples in the second quarter that helped SMB create separation from ROS, 56-45.
Lassiter finished with 17 spiked by a 5-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc to join four teammates in double figure cards.
Cruz, who played for Guam in the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers after the SMB championship, showed the way with 20. Trollano banged in 16 with nine boards while Fajardo, back from calf injury that sidelined him in Gilas Pilipinas' ACQ campaign, produced 15-10. Romeo shot 13 in in his first appearance since missing the tailend of last conference due to ankle injury. (SB)
