THE PBA visits San Fernando, Pampanga for the first time in a while, bringing an interesting match featuring the Converge team with a young, big man who used to be the lead force for the province in its MPBL reign.
Justine Baltazar will again set foot at the Bren Guiao Convention Center in the Pampanga capital, bannering the FiberXers in a Saturday showdown with the Barangay Ginebra Kings in the PBA Philippine Cup.
Another essential Pampanga spice in the Converge-Ginebra tiff at 7:30 p.m. is Japeth Aguilar for the Gin Kings versus the FiberXers who will have on their side the provincial chief executive - Dennis "Delta" Pineda - serving as assistant to head coach Franco Atienza.
And so it's a match that is expected to draw a mammoth crowd in a battle that is a veritable Baltazar-Aguilar face-off in front of their cabalens.
Baltazar is from Mabalacat while Aguilar is from Sasmuan.
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Baltazar and his Converge teammates are on a roll, raring to stretch their run and fuel a drive towards a Top Four finish - and its reward of twice-to-beat incentive in the quarterfinals.
The FiberXers, also drawing tremendous boost from Justin Arana and Alec Stockton, are currently at third behind Magnolia (5-0) and NLEX (4-1), with victories over Phoenix, Blackwater, TNT and Rain or Shine and losses to Meralco and Magnolia.
They're riding the crest of a three-game run going to match with the Gin Kings, who, on the other hand, are on a struggling win-loss-win-loss journey.
Ginebra dropped its last game against NLEX (86-89) where it waged a fightback from a big deficit behind Stephen Holt's 18-point explosion in the fourth quarter only to come up short in the end.
With a 2-2 slate, the Gin Kings are at sixth place, in striking distance of joint fourth placers San Miguel Beermen (3-2) and Rain or Shine Elasto Painters (3-2).
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For coach Tim Cone, the immediate concern is to get things in order for the Gin Kings who are adjusting on the absence of Justin Brownlee. (SB)
