ONE side of the semis match-ups pits teams seeking to break the monotony.
The other side features the hulking giants to fight it out who'll have a shot at another crown.
It's San Miguel Beer and Barangay Ginebra in a clash of titans - corporate siblings who split the last four PBA Commissioner's Cup titles and two teams which account for all but five of the last 21 championships disputed in the league.
The compelling showdown begins at 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum - a duel of force and power with the Beermen coming from six straight wins and the Gin Kings riding the momentum of a five-game streak.
Both finished the one-round-robin elims at 8-3 and both sides took the quick one-win route to make the best-of-five semifinals.
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They had their last playoff showdown in last year's Governors Cup semis with the Kings sweeping the injury-hit Beermen in three games.
But the Beermen prevailed over the Kings, 95-82, in their elims face-off in this tourney. And coach Jorge Gallent will have an even deeper bench and a more explosive import in Bennie Boatwright going to the semis.
Ginebra coach Tim Cone is most concerned on how to deal with the Boatwright-June Mar Fajardo pair.
"It's a dilemma all teams will have to figure it out and we're going to try and figure it out. If we can't, we're not going to win the series," said Cone.
Definitely, Christian Standhardinger, Japeth Aguilar and Tony Bishop have a tough task at hand. Then, Scottie Thompson and the rest of the Ginebra backcourt also have a heavy load to deal with.
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But at least, the Kings have their improvement in their rotation with the addition of Maverick Ahanmisi plus the return of LA Tenorio.
Still, the question is can they match San Miguel's firepower, especially with all the lethal SMB weapons in there, from CJ Perez, to Terrence Romeo to Jericho Cruz, etc.
Boatwright can't be overlooked with his averages of 40.5 points, 12.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 42.5 minutes a game. Ginebra's Bishop, meanwhile, is averaging 23.6 points, 12.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 42.4 minutes.
San Miguel has won six in a row and posted an 8-3 record in the elims despite Fajardo missing six games, Romeo four, Cruz two, Jeron Teng eight, Simon Enciso seven, Kyt Jimenez nine and Vic Manuel 11.
But Cone also has a formidable crew at his disposal.
And all these hint at a humdinger of a series.(SB)
