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San Miguel currently hangs on to the eighth spot, but an outright elimination is still possible. PBA Images (file photo) |
MANILA—San Miguel scored a crucial win in its bid to seal the last quarterfinal seat in the PBA Commissioner's Cup by weathering a late Converge run for a 116-113 decision at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
Despite that, the Beermen are still not out of the woods yet.
Their hopes of securing the eighth seed would still depend on the results of the remaining games of Magnolia, NLEX, and—guess what—even Rain Or Shine.
The premise is simple at the moment: don't let the Hotshots and Road Warriors overtake the Beermen in the team standings.
If Magnolia and NLEX win their remaining two games and SMB loses to TNT on Sunday night, the Beermen will be eliminated directly.
On the other hand, if the opposite holds—that is if SMB beats TNT and both Magnolia and NLEX miss out on going 6-6—the Beermen will have the eighth seed outright.
A three-way tie between SMB, NLEX, and Magnolia for the eighth spot will lead to the Hotshots, having the worst head-to-head quotient at minus-3, getting the boot and the Beermen and Road Warriors engaging in another battle for the last quarterfinal seat.
"Teka! Bakit nadamay ROS?"
An interesting case could take place wherein the Elasto Painters, Beermen, Hotshots, and Road Warriors will all end up at 6-6.
The clincher: ROS's 107-93 win against SMB.
Based on an unofficial tally by Dugout Philippines, the Beermen currently have the worst quotient within the possible four-way tie for seventh and eighth places with a minus-12, so that means there is a chance that they would still get eliminated even if with a win against the Tropang Giga.
SMB could only get a shot at number eight if NLEX beats ROS by 29 or more, which with the way both teams have been playing as of now is a fat chance.
For now, the Beermen's imperative is to beat the Tropang Giga, but they might also need to hope not to end up in the wildest playoff chase possible at the moment.
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