Last quarterfinal bonus now between SMB, TNT

JONAS TERRADO

Slumping TNT KaTropa has two options to secure the twice-to-beat advantage when it battles San Miguel Beer in the final playdate of the PBA Governors’ Cup eliminations on Wednesday.

The KaTropa can do it conventional way by scoring a victory over the Beermen or lose by a single point without allowing the latter to snatch the much-needed quarterfinal bonus.

TNT holds a 7-3 record while San Miguel has a 6-4 card going into their match at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.

Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, which finished the elims at 7-4, is already assured of the twice-to-beat incentive since it has the tiebreaker edge in case of any ties.

Ties between two teams will be resolved through its head-to-head meeting in the elims while a quotient system will be used in case of at least a three-way tie.

San Miguel, on the other hand, needs a win to snatch the bonus away from TNT, which was primed to become the first twice-to-beat team after seven straight wins before dropping its last three assignments.

There’s no need for a rocket scientist to determine the race for the last quarterfinals berth being disputed by Alaska and Columbian.

Alaska, with a 4-6 record, needs to beat NLEX also on Wednesday to punch its ticket to the quarters. A loss, however, sets up a playoff between the Aces and Dyip on Friday.

Columbian finished the eliminations at 4-7 after dropping its final three outings.

Rain or Shine also went 4-7 but is eliminated from contention due to an inferior quotient.

Meanwhile, NLEX (8-2) is assured of the top seed in the playoffs regardless of the outcome of its match against Alaska while Meralco (8-3) can finish as high as second or as low as third.

Victory puts TNT either at second or third depending on the outcome of the NLEX-Alaska duel, Ginebra can go third or fourth while defending champion Magnolia (6-5) is already the No. 6 seed in the playoffs.

NorthPort, which gained a quarters berth at 5-6 after Sunday’s upset of Ginebra, may go seventh with an Alaska or otherwise fall to eighth spot in the quarters.