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    TNT vs Phoenix is the playoff mismatch bred by PBA's flawed rules

    Phoenix rising? Don't keep your hopes up
    Mar 22, 2023
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    Jamike Jarin and the Fuel Masters take on a loaded TNT squad handled by a loaded coaching staff.
    PHOTO: Jerome Ascano

    CHICAGO — I already know it, the Talk N' Talk versus Phoenix playoffs game tomorrow will resemble an elite EASL squad brutally pouncing on a hapless, helpless PBA team.

    With a 4-7 record, the Super LPG has no business being in the playoffs, let alone playing against the 10-1 Tropa and trying to beat that MVP mother ship twice.

    Fat chance.

    This is probably why the league is hiding this Araneta Coliseum non-collision game during the sleepy, yawning 3:00 pm hour in the hopes that no one notices the largely empty seats, which will likely be occupied only by those 200 tickets that each team gets per game.

    No sane basketball fan will wanna watch this mismatch, let alone pay for it. The only way Phoenix can beat TNT is if they play only one quarter for all the marbles.

    Unfortunately, this will be four quarters of eye torture. Tyson versus the punching bag.

    Here's a quick look at the tale of the tape.

    TNT has at least five max players. Phoenix has maybe one or none.

    TNT's coaching staff is a collaboration of rising star Jolas and a Serbian accomplice. Phoenix has an interim coach.

    TNT has an unlimited budget. Phoenix has, fill in the blanks. And here's a clue: Their best players often end up somewhere else.

    Attention GAB, please intervene. A flyweight is fighting a heavyweight.

    STILL, PHOENIX TEAM MANAGER PAOLO BUGIA BELIEVES HIS TEAM DESERVES TO BE IN THE POSTSEASON.

    "A 4-7 (record) qualified us, yes. But we deserve to be a playoff team at least. It's my opinion on how our team has played through adversity," he told me via text message.

    By adversity I assumed he meant losing superstar player Matthew Wright to the Japan B League and losing five-star coach Topex Robinson to LaSalle.

    True, the LPG commands our praise for keeping it together despite the immense leaking of assets. But the PBA playoffs isn't a pity party. It is supposed to be the showcase of the cream of the crop, not a battle between the beast against the least.

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    The fault here lies in the PBA.

    There is no parity in Kume Marcial's world. The rich teams keep going to the Final Four while Terrafirma and Blackwater keep polluting the sewerage in the bottom of the cellar.

    As far as poor teams in the PBA are concerned, the playoffs forecast in every conference is the same: Dark, gloomy and sad. With just a very slight chance of a Phoenix rising.

    And you're still wondering why attendance is low, Kume Marcial?

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      Jamike Jarin and the Fuel Masters take on a loaded TNT squad handled by a loaded coaching staff.
      PHOTO: Jerome Ascano
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