Sudden death

Shell and Coca-Cola are on the brink of being buried six feet under with a foot already in the grave as they battle to stay alive in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Fiesta Conference.

But it’s not a hopeless case for both the Turbo Chargers and the Tigers. Two wins in a row will bail them out of a funeral. The problem is if they lose just once, it’s over.

No. 9 Shell and No. 10 Coca-Cola are the tail-enders after the double-round classification series. Because of their standings, they’re in a twice-to-win situation in the wild card phase that started yesterday. That means Shell must beat No. 4 Sta. Lucia Realty twice to advance to the quarterfinals while Coca-Cola must do the same to No. 3 Alaska.

In today’s twinbill at the Araneta Coliseum, the Realtors take on Shell in the opener and the Tigers face the Aces in the nightcap. Both are sudden-death games for the cellar dwellers. If they survive, the rematches will be played on Sunday. If they don’t, it’s goodbye forever.

Shell and Purefoods finished the classifications with identical 7-11 records but the Tender Juicy Hot Dogs managed to snatch the eighth spot by virtue of a plus-1 quotient. The results of their two classification meetings decided the placings. Purefoods lost to Shell by 12, 90-68, and beat the Turbo Chargers by 13, 95-82.

In contrast, Coca-Cola wound up at 6-12. The Tigers lost five of their last six. Gunner John Arigo, sidelined the last three games, is expected to suit up against Alaska–his former team–tonight. Other former Alaska players in the Coca-Cola roster are Ali Peek, Johnny Abarrientos and Poch Juinio.

The Aces are fresh from a tough two-point loss to San Miguel Beer in a playoff to decide the second outright semifinal qualifier last Wednesday and it’s not certain if import Dickey Simpkins will be 100 percent healthy for tonight’s game. Simpkins was bothered by pain in his back against the Beermen and wasn’t his usual dominating self.

The Tigers aren’t used to being stepped on. A doormat finish isn’t exactly what coach Eric Altamirano had in mind for the team when he was picked to take over from Chot Reyes who was seconded to the national squad.

You can be sure the Tigers will answer the bell growling tonight. They’re not only fighting for survival. They’re also fighting for pride. Besides, there’s the added drama of Arigo, Abarrientos, Peek and Juinio trying to "give back" to Alaska.

Clearly, Altamirano isn’t thinking of the daunting task of beating Alaska twice. It’s just one game at a time for the Tigers. Forget the twice-to-win handicap. For Coca-Cola, tonight is do or die and that should be the only focus in Altamirano’s mind.

In the classifications, the Tigers lost to Alaska twice, 75-74 and 89-78, but one game was with import Darrell Johns and the other with Mark Sanford.

One thing about Sanford is he hates losing. He’s played on title teams in the Dominican Republic, Belgium and Australia. The 1997 Maimi Heat second round draft pick will go all out to force Alaska into a winner-take-all duel on Sunday, that’s for sure.

Alaska’s motivation to put Coca-Cola away sooner than later is to give Simpkins a few extra days to regain his strength before advancing to the quarters where the winner of the Red Bull-Ginebra wild card best-of-3 series is waiting in line.

Aces coach Tim Cone will continue to miss injured Brandon Cablay’s services but Alaska should still be more than a handful for the Tigers with Don Allado, Reynel Hugnatan, Mike Cortez, Jeffrey Cariaso, Bong Hawkins and Sonny Thoss.

As for Shell, coach Leo Austria is determined to jump out of the fire. All the talk of Shell disbanding is causing a lot of anxiety within the ranks and there’s no more potent antidote than to win big tonight over Sta. Lucia.

Shell has lost five of its last six and the Turbo Chargers are out to arrest the skid. Ajani Williams is Shell’s third import this conference and it looks like Austria will live or die with the lanky beanpole. More than Williams, the locals must step up and that means Rich Alvarez, Ronald Tubid, Billy Mamaril, Tony de la Cruz, Roger Yap and Kalani Ferreria must deliver.

Shell and Sta. Lucia split their games in the classifications. The Realtors drew first blood, 90-85, but the Turbo Chargers evened up matters, 72-65. The decision over Sta. Lucia was Williams’ only taste of victory in four games since joining Shell.

The bad news for Shell is Sta. Lucia is on a roll. Coach Alfrancis Chua’s boys are on a hot streak, winning five of their last six and nine of their last 11. What’s remarkable is the Realtors opened the conference with a 1-6 record. Clearly, Chua has turned things around even as Marlou Aquino has sat out the last nine games with a broken hand.

Hard-working Ryan Fletcher isn’t the only reason why Sta. Lucia is humming. Dennis Espino, Kenneth Duremdes, Bitoy Omolon, Paolo Mendoza, Chester Tolomia, Ibet Demape and a hard-nosed wrecking crew off the bench are playing beautiful music, much to Chua’s relief.

In the last Fiesta Conference, the tail-enders failed to make it past the first game of their twice-to-win predicament. No. 10 Purefoods lost to No. 3 Coca-Cola by two and No. 10 FedEx bowed to No. 4 Talk ‘N’ Text, also by two.

And in the Philippine Cup that ended last February, the bottom two teams were also creamed in the first game of a twice-to-win situation. No. 10 Red Bull lost to No. 3 Shell by 21 and No. 9 FedEx was ousted by No. 4 Alaska by three. Shell and Coca-Cola try to defy the odds in fighting for their lives tonight.