Party’s over for PBA clubs

MANILA, Philippines — As the PBA Commissioner’s Cup hits the court tomorrow after the holiday break, two major questions beg for answers.

Will the dark horse teams continue to hold sway?

Will the favorites get out of their struggles and restore order?

For the likes of NorthPort (6-1) and Rain or Shine (4-1), which are running 1-2 after the initial salvo, the intention is to keep the fire burning at the play resumption.

“We talked about the long break and I told the team they’re all professionals naman so dapat ‘yung conditioning nila, ‘yung timing, dapat andun pa rin, to continue the good run sa mga nakuha naming panalo,” said Batang Pier coach Bonnie Tan.

“New year, new challenge para sa amin,” said Guiao, expressing a similar concern especially with a killer schedule versus Converge, Barangay Ginebra, TNT, Phoenix, NLEX and NorthPort in their calendar. We have seven games (in January), and “yun naman ang kailangan namin isipin ngayon.”

For the likes of defending champion San Miguel Beer (3-3), reigning Governors’ Cup kingpin TNT (2-2) and last season’s runner-up Magnolia (2-5), the agenda is to ring out the old and start a major turnaround.

“Talagang may sense of urgency na sa amin after our last loss,” said Hotshots veteran Mark Barroca, referring to their Christmas Clasico encounter with the Gin  Kings where they squandered a 22-point lead and conceded a numbing 92-95 loss on Scottie Thompson’s buzzer-beating triple.