Barangay Ginebra and Magnolia Chicken Timplados bring their old, fierce rivalry in the old historic stadium on Saturday, their side of the disputes for places in the PBA Philippine Cup Last Four.
The four corners of the Rizal Memorial Coliseum will be silent witnesses to this Manila Clasico quarterfinals matchup, a duel for a semifinal berth versus the winner of the Meralco-NLEX face-off.
Followers of the Gin Kings and the Hotshots, of course, would want a Clasico in deeper part of the playoffs.
But losses by both squads in their final outings in the single-round-robin eliminations set the stage for their quarterfinals entanglement, with the Gin Kings having the twice-to-beat advantage as the second seeds.
Coach Tim Cone's chargers seek a repeat of their 87-77 victory in their elims tiff as the Kings take their first crack at the semis.
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Both have players with health issues, and it could well be about mental and physical readiness as they duke it out at 7:30 p.m.
It will be all over for the Hotshots if they're not able to survive the Kings in this game. A rubber, if necessary, is Wednesday.
Both sides brace for dogfight as has been the case most of the time in the Clasicos.
Though missing key pieces, the Hotshots dragged the Kings to a low-scoring battle in their previous match, just tapering off in the closing minutes of their 10-point defeat.
Magnolia then was without Rome dela Rosa and Aris Dionisio, and with Calvin Abueva playing miniscule minutes.
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But their injured players have returned. Too bad, the Hotshots struggled to a 1-3 windup in the elims (6-5 overall) and tumbled to seventh seeding in the playoffs.
In their elims' final assignment, the Kings, meanwhile, yielded to the NLEX Road Warriors, 72-76, while without the injury-hit Jamie Malonzo.
But it was a non-bearing game for the Kings where the Ginebra coach took the opportunity to break in new acquisition David Murrell.
Both sides are expected to pour it all as they set foot in the old, good stadium.(SB)
