PBA: Four teams in tight race

By WAYLON GALVEZ

Games Tomorrow (Smart-Araneta Coliseum)
5:15 p.m. – Meralco vs TNT
7:30 p.m. – B-Meg vs Petron

Game Thursday (Smart-Araneta Coliseum)
8 p.m. – Rain or Shine vs Ginebra

Manila, Philippines – With the first finals berth almost in the bag for Rain or Shine, four teams are locked for the second slot as the PBA Governors’ Cup semifi nals resume tomorrow at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.

The Elasto Painters posted a come-from-behind 99-86 win over Meralco Sunday to move one victory away from nailing their fi rstever championship appearance. They carry a league-best 9-2 winloss slate and can formalize their entry with a victory over Barangay Ginebra on Thursday.

B-Meg is in solo second place with a 7-3 card followed by Barangay Ginebra at 7-4.

The Kings scored their second straight semifi nal win Sunday at the expense of Petron, 87-85. Import Cedric Bozeman’s tear-drop shot with 0.3 second left capped Ginebra’s big comeback.

Still in the running are Petron Blaze (6-5) and Talk ‘N Text (55).

Meralco is out of it all with a 4-7 record.

The top two teams after the single-round robin semifinals advance into the best-of-seven championship series. A team can also earn a playoff for the last fi nals berth by winning four of five semifinal matches.

So far, Ginebra is 2-0 in the semifinals while Petron is 1-1.

With a 5-5 card, the Texters would probably need to sweep their last four assignments to have a shot in the finals.

“We lost our last two games, which we should have won if not for bad breaks in the endgame,” said TNT coach Chot Reyes.

The Texters dropped a 92-90 decision to Rain or Shine last July 1.

“We’re not getting any good breaks, so the lesson is we must be perfect in every possession. If it’s a close game, we lose. One miss and we die,” added Reyes.

Talk ’N Text plays sister-team Meralco tomorrow at the SmartAraneta Coliseum followed by a tiff between B-Meg and Petron.

The next day, Ginebra meets Rain or Shine.

On Friday, B-Meg takes on Meralco and Petron meets Talk ’N Text, while Ginebra clashes with B-Meg and Talk ’N Text battles Rain or Shine on Sunday.

Petron and Meralco will collide on Monday to end the elimination round.

Guiao said that with three games to go, they have a big chance of making it to the championship round for the first time since the Raymund Yu-Terry Que owned franchise joined the PBA back in 2006.

“I think we’re assured of the playoff, but the magic number is still 10 wins,” said Guiao who is facing another penalty from the PBA Commissioner’s Office after hurling profane languages to referee Maui Maurillo that led to his ejection with 2.9 seconds left in the second quarter.

“I hope we can get that win as soon as we can,” added Guaio.