The last time Barangay Ginebra faced San Miguel, the former was celebrating advancing to the PBA Governors' Cup finals.
When they meet again on Sunday, the only thing in Ginebra players' minds is to avoid elimination.
The league's most popular ballclubs add another year to their longstanding rivalry when they clash in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.
| PBA Philippine Cup standings | ||||
| Team | Won | Lost | Pct | Next game |
| San Miguel | 6 | 1 | 0.86 | Ginebra (Jan. 8) |
| Rain Or Shine | 4 | 2 | 0.67 | Phoenix (Jan. 8) |
| TNT | 4 | 3 | 0.57 | Star (Jan. 15) |
| Phoenix | 4 | 3 | 0.57 | Rain Or Shine (Jan. 8) |
| GlobalPort | 4 | 3 | 0.57 | NLEX (Jan. 13) |
| Blackwater | 4 | 4 | 0.50 | Alaska (Jan. 15) |
| Star | 3 | 3 | 0.50 | Alaska (Jan. 11) |
| Alaska | 3 | 3 | 0.50 | Star (Jan. 11) |
| Ginebra | 3 | 3 | 0.50 | San Miguel (Jan. 8) |
| Meralco | 2 | 5 | 0.29 | Mahindra (Jan. 11) |
| NLEX | 2 | 5 | 0.29 | GlobalPort (Jan. 13) |
| Mahindra | 1 | 5 | 0.17 | Meralco (Jan. 11) |
| ~ Standings updated after January 7 games | ||||
San Miguel is the first team to reach the quarterfinals after the Beermen made minced meat of Blackwater on Friday.
With the league's best record and assured of a ticket to the next round, San Miguel wants to make sure it maintains its focus and keeps its players fresh as the team goes deeper in the tournament.
June Mar Fajardo and his teammates have only less than 48 hours to recuperate before they hit the floor again, but he isn't worried too much.
“Basta kailangan lang maging healthy kami lahat. Tapos kailangan lang namin sundin yung sistema ni coach, yung pina-practice namin kailangan i-apply sa game,” he said.
(We just need to be healthy. We need to get with the system and apply everything we practice when we do play the actual game.)
San Miguel could see a slightly different Ginebra team if its opponent's last game was any indication.
Ginebra downed Star on December 25, thanks to the torrid three-point shooting — you read that right — of Japeth Aguilar.
Cone gave his center the go-signal to fire away from downtown and Aguilar delivered, scoring 32 points on 5 of 5 shooting from long distance.
“We’ve been encouraging him to shoot threes and he hit his threes,” Cone said after the Christmas Day win. “That’s a huge weapon that maybe we can continue to use and develop that as we go along.”
In the first game, Rain Or Shine looks to stay within striking distance of San Miguel when it takes on Phoenix.
Rain Or Shine has quietly put together a superb season under coach Caloy Garcia, with all their four wins coming via double digits.
But the Phoenix game is where the going will start to get tough for the Elasto Painters, who now have the hardest schedule remaining based on the updated standings. Their remaining opponents' winning percentage is a combined 0.567.
The Fuel Masters are coming off an improbable victory over GlobalPort, which saw them come back from 26 points down in the fourth quarter to win.
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