Crucial tiffs to seal Final Eight roster?

MANILA, Philippines - Alaska Milk shoots for an outright quarterfinals entry while Rain or Shine fights to stay alive as they take on NLEX and Star, respectively, in a pair of crucial matches in the penultimate playdate of the PBA Governors Cup eliminations at the MOA Arena in Pasay tonight.

The Aces tangle with the NLEX Road Warriors at 4:15 p.m. then the Elasto Painters tackle the Hotshots at 7 p.m. in tiffs that may determine the Final Eight cast.

The race to the quarters is automatically over if Rain or Shine (4-6) fails to hurdle Star, allowing Alaska (5-5) and Phoenix (5-6) to join TNT KaTropa (9-1), Barangay Ginebra (8-2), San Miguel Beer (6-5), Meralco (6-5), Mahindra (6-5) and NLEX (5-5) outright in the Magic Eight.

An ROS win, however, will force a logjam at seventh to ninth places with the Fuel Masters and either the Aces or the Road Warriors at 5-6.

“It’s been a struggle for us, but we can still save this conference if we can find ourselves Friday and thereafter. The important thing is just to keep ourselves alive and motivated,” said ROS coach Yeng Guiao.

“There is always danger in playing a team that has nothing to lose. We’ll keep this in mind in our game (against Star),” Guiao also said.

The Hotshots (2-8) are playing with no pressure at all as they’re already out of playoff contention along with the GlobalPort Batang Pier (4-7) and the Blackwater Elite (1-9).

Banking on a superior quotient, NLEX also plays without any burden as it is guaranteed of sixth spot regardless of the outcome of its game against Alaska.

  Hard pressed to win is Alaska, which is avoiding a possible playoff for the last quarters berth.

“Huge game for us. We win and we are in. We lose and we may have a playoff for an eighth spot,” said Alaska coach Alex Compton.

“The tough thing is (NLEX import) Henry Walker is really an NBA player. He is a complete package offensively. Then you have a 6-9 Asi (Taulava) down low, and Garvo Lanete and Jonas Villanueva outside,” Compton also said. “Throw in the hustle and smarts of Kevin Alas, Sean Anthony, Glenn Khobuntin and Rico Villanueva, and we have really got our hands full.”

“Alaska is considered as one of the stronger teams and their standing is not indicative of how strong they are. Facing Alaska in this situation is tough,” said NLEX coach Boyet Fernandez.                          

A regular Final Four figure in the last nine conferences, Rain or Shine is now in an unfamiliar territory, teetering on the brink of elims.

A comforting thought for the E-Painters is the fact that Josh Dollard has had a number of practices with the team now.

Dollard, a returning PBA import, had a decent debut with Rain or Shine versus San Miguel but the ROS locals struggled badly and went down reeling with a crucial 75-82 loss.

“Our new import hasn’t totally jelled with the team. If he could have come earlier, we could have won a few more games,” Guiao said after the ROS-SMB match. 

NOTES: San Miguel is bringing back old import Elijah Millsap going into the playoffs. Millsap, the Best Import awardee in the 2013 Governors Cup, flew in yesterday morning to take over from Mike Singletary. After his PBA tour of duty in 2013, Millsap brought his stuff to Israel, then with the LA D-Fenders and the Bakersfield Jam in the NBA D-League before he was signed by the Utah Jazz last year.