Gov Cup starts; SMB, Alaska duel in mainer

MANILA, Philippines - San Miguel Beer and Alaska Milk, playoff top seeds that failed to make it past the Final Eight last conference, slug it out in the mainer of the opening twinbill in the PBA Governors Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum today.

The Beermen and the Aces face off at 5:15 p.m., seeking a triumphant start in the season-ending tourney to erase the memory of their heartbreaking exit in the Commissioner’s Cup.

San Miguel finished second behind Talk n Text in the Commissioner’s Cup eliminations with a solid 7-2 win-loss record only to blow away a twice-to-beat advantage over Air21 in the quarterfinals.

Alaska, meanwhile, wound up third in the preliminaries with a 6-3 mark but bowed to eventual champion San Mig Coffee in the rubber of their best-of-three quarters duel.

“Coming from a disappointing conference, hopefully we learned from it and recover. We have to use it as motivation,” said San Miguel coach Biboy Ravanes.

“Obviously, Alaska will play with the same mindset. We must play our game a notch higher. We have to be more prepared on end game situations. We have to develop a killer instinct,” Ravanes also said.

“We will be facing a team that is full of firepower. It is no wonder that they led the league in turnover points, fast break points and second-chance points last conference at the end of the eliminations,” said Alaska coach Luigi Trillo.

“For us to be successful, our import Henry Walker has to play on both ends of the court,” Trillo added.

Walker, a four-year NBA veteran with stints with the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks, will be up against former Golden State Warrior, Charlotte Bobcat and Oklahoma City Thunder Reggie Williams in their PBA debut.

Barako Bull, the Commissioner’s Cup ninth placer now under new coach Siot Tanquingcen, takes on Meralco in the 3 p.m. curtain-raiser.

Meralco import Terrence Williams, who torched the Globalport Batang Pier with 10 three-pointers in a tune-up, plays his first actual game in the PBA against Barako’s Eric Wise, a second-generation PBA import.

Son of former U/Tex, Tanduay and Manila Beer import Francois, Eric is bringing his basketball skills developed as a USC and UC Irvine player in US college ball.