ONE of the most highly-charged playoffs rivalries in the PBA recent years, featuring two dependable reinforcements with a combined six Best Import awards between them, explodes anew in the Season 49 Governors' Cup quarterfinals
Meralco, the reigning Philippine Cup titlist, and Barangay Ginebra, the crowd darlings, add a new chapter to their epic duels as they dispute a ticket to the semifinals in a best-of-five affair beginning Thursday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
This will be the eighth post-elims matchup of the squads since 2016, fourth with both Justin Brownlee and Allen Durham as spearheads.
Brownlee and the Gin Kings got the better of Allen and the Bolts in title showdowns in the 2016, 2017 and 2019 Governors' Cup even as Brownlee beat a different Meralco import in their quarterfinal combat in the 2017 Commissioner's Cup.
The Gin Kings' local crew bested their Bolts' counterparts in their next encounter in the 2020 Philippine Cup bubble semis to extend their head-to-head dominance. However, the Bolts got over the hump in their next entanglement, 2-1 in the 2022 All-Filipino then made it two in a row in the last Philippine Cup, outlasting the Gin Kings in a tight Final Four affair, 4-3, en route to their maiden PBA crown.
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Fireworks start at 5 p.m.
"They beat us in seven games last conference and I got totally outcoached the whole conference," Ginebra strategist Tim Cone said ahead of the rematch against Meralco's Luigi Trillo and Nenad Vucinic, "So we gotta do better this time around."
The Gin Kings and the Bolts go at it with some new faces that were not there when they last faced off.
The Tim Cone-coached Ginebra, for one, let go of Christian Standhardinger and Stanley Pringle in the pre-season to acquire Stephen Holt, signed up rookie RJ Abarrientos to beef up the Scottie Thompson-led backcourt then reactivated the previously retired Joe DeVance to help Japeth Aguilar up front.
Meralco now has a promising freshman in CJ Cansino in the local crew to complement leaders Chris Newsome, Chris Banchero, Cliff Hodge, Bong Quinto and the returning Allein Maliksi.
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"It's gonna be hard. Ginebra has retooled, they're more guard-heavy now. They've lost Standhardinger but they've got a lot of weapons and they play a quicker game now," said Trillo, who along with Vucenic and the entire Meralco coaching staff, received the Coach of the Year award from the PBA Press Corps Monday night.
"We believe in our guys, we'll be ready also," he added. (OL)
