NORTHPORT is currently at first place in the PBA 49th Season Commissioner’s Cup leaderboard with a 9-3 win-loss record, but that doesn’t mean they are already assured of the No. 1 spot come the quarterfinals.
The Batang Pier aren’t even a lock for one of two twice-to-beat spots at the moment, especially after the Sunday’s matches that saw TNT defeat San Miguel, 115-97, and Magnolia beat Eastern, 107-78.
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TNT, now with an 8-3 record, has found itself back in the picture for a twice-to-beat spot after Eastern fell to 7-4. Idle Meralco, on the other hand, is now at solo third with a 7-3 mark, meaning the Tropang Giga and the Bolts have the chance to tie NorthPort at the close of the eliminations.
In such a scenario, NorthPort will miss not only the No. 1 seed but the twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals as well due to an inferior quotient.
NorthPort only has a 0.9417 quotient (+12 point difference in case of a three-way tie after the Batang Pier lost to Meralco by a mile, 111-94, last January 14, and won over TNT by only five points, 100-95, last December 8.]
Meralco, TNT take twice-to-beat in this scenario
On the other hand, Meralco will take the No. 1 seed in the quarterfinals in case of a triple tie due to a 1.0769 quotient (+15 point difference) due to that blowout win over NorthPort negating a 101-99 defeat to TNT last January 7.
TNT, which held the top spot for a better part of the conference, will still secure the twice-to-beat in the quarterfinals with the No. 2 seed in this scenario for obtaining a 0.9849 quotient (-3 point differential).
Possible NorthPort-Ginebra clash in quarterfinals
With Meralco and TNT taking the top two in this scenario, NorthPort will fall to No. 3 and will play a best-of-three quarterfinals against the No. 6 seed, which could be Barangay Ginebra.
The Gin Kings are currently tied for sixth place with Eastern at 7-4 - a game ahead of No. 7 Rain or Shine. Both teams see action on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum - Ginebra facing Meralco and Eastern taking on NLEX.
Those two games will likely decide which gets the No. 6 seed.
A Ginebra-NorthPort series could be an explosive one after the Batang Pier defeated the Kings, 119-116, last January 8.
But for a rematch to happen, a lot still has to happen. And that’s for another story.
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