The race for the twice-to-beat advantage in the PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals could end up in a three-way battle between defending champion San Miguel, Magnolia and Alaska going into the final weeks of the elimination round.
All three teams have six wins apiece after Sunday's matches at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City, with San Miguel regaining the top spot at 6-1 after its come-from-behind 77-76 victory over erstwhile leader Magnolia.
Magnolia, which saw its five-game winning run snapped, fell in a tie for second at 6-2 with Alaska, which prevailed for the sixth consecutive time following a hard-fought 105-98 victory over GlobalPort.
They are almost assured of becoming the first teams to clinch the quarters of the season's first conference but are eyeing the elusive bonus in hopes of getting an easier route to the semis.
Two teams have an outside chance of joining the chase in TNT KaTropa and Rain or Shine, sharing identical 4-3 slates, while Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, NLEX, Phoenix and GlobalPort will need a late surge to improve on their 3-4 records.
Sponsored content:
The top two teams after the elims secure the twice-to-beat against the lower two squads in the quarterfinals while the third to sixth placers meet in a crossover best-of-three series.
San Miguel coach Leo Austria was pleased to see his team rally from a double-digit deficit to escape past Magnolia, avoided a second straight defeat after a 100-96 loss to Ginebra last Jan. 28 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
"If we lost this game, mag-slide down kami, but now we're back at No. 1," said Austria. "It's really hard to lose a game because every game is very important."
The Beermen take on the Aces on Feb. 17 in Batangas City, play the Kia Picanto on Feb. 23 at the Big Dome before closing the elims with a match against Rain or Shine on Feb. 28 at the Mall of Asia Arena.
On the other side, Magnolia still fancies its chances at the twice-to-beat going into matches with Rain or Shine on Saturday in Calasiao, Pangasinan, GlobalPort on Feb. 16 at the Big Dome and Meralco on Feb. 24 in Cagayan de Oro City.
Sponsored content:
"Nasa magandang posisyon pa rin kami. Yung mga remaining games namin, ayusin lang namin para mas maganda pa yung standing namin," said Hotshots guard Mark Barroca.
Alaska coach Alex Compton remains far from pleased despite a big turnaround from a 0-2 start by going undefeated in 2018. The Aces have to hurdle NLEX on Feb. 11, San Miguel on Feb. 17 and Rain or Shine on Feb. 23 to reach the top two.
"I'm very happy obviously with how we're playing and the results in 2018, but we haven't won anything yet," he said. "We still have to get better because I think all the other teams are getting better too." (JT)
