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QUOTIENT WATCH | Wild wildcard race ensues ahead of final elims weekend

Only one team among Meralco and TNT will enter the quarterfinals. PBA Media Group (file photo)
By Ivan Saldajeno

THE first part of this series tackled arguably the easiest to resolve: the case of San Miguel's quarterfinal bid.


This time, it will be a bit trickier.

The results of three of the final four games of the PBA Governors' Cup eliminations could lead to a three-way tie for seventh to ninth places between the three teams owned by the MVP Group.

Only the top eight teams will make it to the quarterfinals, but the last quarterfinal entrant will be determined by a knockout match should a tie for eighth place ensues. In the aforementioned case, the quotients will first be used to determine which team finishes seventh before pitting the other two clubs in a knockout battle.

Current situation:
7. NLEX 5-5
8. TNT 4-6
9. Meralco 4-6

Remaining games that will impact the situation:
NLEX vs. Rain Or Shine, Saturday, 4:30 p.m.
San Miguel vs. Meralco, Saturday, 6:45 p.m.
TNT vs. Ginebra, Sunday, 6:45 p.m.

Scenarios:

1. If NLEX wins, it will lock in the seventh seed regardless of what happens to TNT and Meralco.

2. If NLEX loses, it now needs to watch the results of TNT and Meralco's games.
 a. If both TNT and Meralco lose, NLEX remains the seventh seed and TNT and Meralco will play in the wildcard game.
 b. If either TNT or Meralco wins, this is where it gets interesting. First, let's check how the head-to-head match-ups between the three teams went:

NLEX 103 TNT 90
TNT 92 Meralco 90
NLEX 105 Meralco 108

  i. If Meralco wins and TNT loses, Meralco takes the seventh seed, NLEX falls to the eighth seed, and TNT will be eliminated.
  ii. If Meralco loses and TNT wins, NLEX takes the seventh seed, TNT settles for the eighth seed, and Meralco will be eliminated.
  iii. If both Meralco and TNT win, a three-way tie for seventh to ninth places at 5-6 will take place. The point differential rule may suffice on which team takes the tiebreaker, but since the league uses the quotient rule, we will use this to break the ties (Note: their respective point differentials are enclosed in parenthesis).

NLEX  1.051 (+10)
Meralco 198 1.005 (+1)
TNT 182 0.943 (-11)

With that said, NLEX owns the tiebreaker and will be the seventh seed if the long logjam ensues. Meralco and TNT, on the other hand, will dispute the eighth seed in the wildcard game.

Summary: The Road Warriors are safely into the quarterfinals and will lock in the seventh seed if either they beat the Elasto Painters, the Bolts fall to the Beermen, or if the KaTropa stun the Barangay. If both the Bolts and the KaTropa have the same outcome of their games, they will slug it out for the eighth seed regardless of what happens to the Road Warriors.

PS: In the final part of this series, we will resolve the most complicated playoff race right now: the race to the top.

Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno