Game Today
(Araneta Coliseum)
6:45 p.m. — Barako Bull vs Powerade
 
Barako Bull survived quite a scare from Meralco before getting here and Energy coach Junel Baculi knows his veterans will possess the heart to complete their next mission — hurdle the first of two roadblocks to the semifinal round of the Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup.
“We have to go the long route. But we must play above it. That’s what you get when you have veterans on your team,” Baculi noted after the Energy slipped past the Bolts Sunday night to force tonight’s first playoff for a semis seat against Powerade at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
And only the victor will have a tomorrow for either the Energy or Tigers in their 6:45 p.m. encounter.
The winner tonight moves on to the winner-take-all showdown for the last semis berth against Meralco Wednesday, also at 6:45 p.m. at the same venue.
And whoever prevails in Wednesday’s showdown will gain entry into another cut-throat phase, the semifinals, with league-leading Rain or Shine, B-Meg, Talk ‘N Text, Barangay Ginebra and Petron Blaze.
The Tigers will try to put behind them a near-disastrous debacle in that game against the Bolts where they nearly squandered a 17-point fourth quarter lead.
Tenacious defense, coupled by the superb steadiness of import Mario West, had the Bolts nearly razing a 60-77 deficit in the fourth quarter with a 19-3 barrage that sent them threatening at 79-80, with only 12 seconds on the gameclock.
In that stretch alone, the Energy collapsed with six turnovers and five missed baskets.
And Baculi could only have Meralco forward Dennis Daa to thank for for surviving that debacle. The seldom-used forward muffed a 20-foot jumper with a second left that allowed the Energy to escape with the win.
“We’ll review the tapes and see what we can do against Powerade. We must lower our turnovers. The character of the team is that they tend to relax when they’re on top,” said Baculi of his band of grizzled veterans whose starters are aged 30 years or older.
The Tigers, on the other hand, haven’t been too successful of late.
They dropped a frustrating 98-110 overtime loss to B-Meg in Legazpi, Albay last Saturday where the Tigers forged the extra period at 90-all on a booming bank shot of a triple by the league’s leading scorer Gary David.
And Barako Bull actually did them a huge favor in extending their Governors’ Cup stint with that win over Meralco.