Bottom line: Outright slot or plain survival

With three weeks and three days to go in the double-round preliminary phase of the Gran Matador PBA Fiesta Conference, the war has been divided into three different battles among the 10 competing teams.

Mathematically, only five teams remain in contention for the two automatic berths in the quarterfinals while the rest are left either scrambling for a twice-to-beat privilege or at least a knockout game in the wildcard plays of the unique format of the PBA transition tourney.

Just in today’s double-header, the four teams will have their sights set on different things.

Coca-Cola and Red Bull Barako pursue their chases for an outright quarterfinals entry, Barangay Ginebra seeks to salvage a twice-to-beat incentive while Purefoods merely presses its bid for a knockout game.

The Tigers and the Thunder cross paths at 4:10 p.m. while the Gin Kings and the Hotdogs meet at 6:30 p.m.

The fight for the two automatic seats in the quarterfinals remains wide open among the five leading teams with Talk n Text stalling San Miguel Realtors in a road game in Davao City two Thursdays ago.

With a 6-7 win-loss card, Red Bull Barako can no longer afford another loss if it were to make it to the quarters without going through the wildcard plays.

Beer’s drive in an 89-87 decision in their out-of-town game at the Quezon Convention Center in Lucena Thursday.

The top two teams after the 18-game-per-team, double-round prelims automatically advance to the quarters. The next two teams gain twice-to-beat incentive versus the No. 9 and No. 10 teams while the Nos. 5 and 6 teams battle the Nos. 8 and 7, respectively, in a single knockout setto in the wildcard plays.

Coca-Cola, holding a precarious half-game lead over Alaska at second place behind San Miguel, hopes to bolster its bid for an automatic quarters passage as it seeks to stretch its run to four games versus Red Bull Barako.

The Tigers, however, expect a tough challenge from the Thunder who are likely to show big improvement in their game with new import Victor Thomas already over a week in the Red Bull Barako camp.

The Thunder failed to arrest a two-game skid as Thomas struggled versus his old team the Sta. Lucia Realtors in a road game in Davao City two Thursdays ago.