Three gun for second in PBA triple-treat

Games tomorrow (Smart Araneta Coliseum)

3 p.m. – Barako Bull vs Globalport

5:15 p.m. – Meralco vs Rain or Shine

7:30 p.m. – San Mig Coffee vs Ginebra

MANILA, Philippines - This is a special PBA Sunday bill that doesn’t happen so often.

Three teams shoot for a share of second place and three others try to stop their bleeding as they see action in a rare PBA triple-header set today at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Barako Bull and Globalport collide in the 3 p.m. curtain-raiser before Meralco and Rain or Shine face off at 5:15 p.m. San Mig Coffee and Barangay Ginebra battle at 7:30 p.m.

It’s the first time the local pro league presents a triple-bill since Smart Gilas played as guest team in the 2009-10 Philippine Cup eliminations.

It’s a blockbuster Sunday culminating the league’s weeklong All Saints Day presentation.

Each game is crucial with San Mig Coffee, Meralco and Rain or Shine out to improve their records in the upper half of the chart and Barangay Ginebra, Barako Bull and Globalport aching to get on the winning track.

The Meralco-RoS tiff is the most interesting with both eyeing a fifth win in seven outings.

“It’s a big test for our team. We are facing a legit title contender. The hardest part when you play RoS is its unpredictability. So we just have to play within our strength which is defense,” said Meralco coach Ryan Gregorio.

Coach Yeng Guiao and his troops should be tougher to play tonight coming from a loss to the Talk n Text Tropang Texters the last time out.

The Bolts, meanwhile, won their last two games versus the Air21 Express and the Barako Bull Energy Cola while getting tremendous boost from Sol Mercado.

“Sol is playing his best basketball in his career. Not only is he scoring and assisting, he is also becoming a very good closer for us and his leadership is also being manifested magnificently,” said Gregorio.

The Mixers and the Kings brace themselves up for a battle.

“It doesn’t matter what their record is, Ginebra is always incredibly challenging to play. There’s a lot of pride in that locker room and in the stands. We’ll have to play a lot better than we’ve recently been playing to beat them,” said San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone.

“We need to concentrate on the process – play each play and not to worry about other stuffs. Our defense also needs to get better,” said Ginebra coach Siot Tanquingcen.

The Mixers also gun for a fifth win in seven starts while the Kings are after a third win against four losses.

Meanwhile, PBA commissioner Chito Salud suspended referee Rey Yante for six game days for an erroneous judgment in calling a goal-tending violation at endgame of the Alaska-Talk n Text match Friday.

“The game has become so fast and the players so athletic that there will be miscalls from time to time. As much as the PBA is doing its best to avoid these errors, this is one of them,” said Salud.