RAIN or Shine finally clinched a quarterfinals berth, leaving Magnolia and NLEX to battle for the eighth and last playoff spot in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
The Elasto Painters avoided complications by raining 3s on TNT on the way to a 106-96 victory over the Tropang Giga to take the no. 6 spot and a best-of-three quarterfinals series against Converge.
READ: Rain or Shine downs TNT to dodge battle for No. 8
Rain or Shine finished with a 7-5 slate together with guest team Eastern, but took the higher seeding as it beat the Hong Kong-based squad in their head-to-head matchup, 99-81.
The Hotshots also took care of business by downing an import-less Meralco, 129-92, to forge a playoff with the NLEX Road Warriors for the no. 8 spot.
Magnolia won its last three outings to even its record at 6-6 and ended up tied with the Road Warriors.
READ: Magnolia stays alive for No. 8 spot after shutting down Meralco
Listed down are the takeaways in the final game of the eliminations Friday night at the Philsports Arena.
1.TOO BAD, ONLY ONE WILL ADVANCE BETWEEN MAGNOLIA AND NLEX
The two are the hottest teams entering the homestretch of the eliminations as both the Hotshots and Road Warriors won their last three games to make a case for the remaining quarterfinals berth.
Now only one of them will advance, with D-Day set on Sunday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo. For the record, Magnolia won over NLEX, 99-95, in their lone encounter this conference.
2.MERALCO CAN’T MISS AKIL MITCHELL IN THE PLAYOFFS
The Bolts played their last two games in the eliminations without their clutch import, and lost both against Barangay Ginebra and Magnolia, in effect missing a chance of landing at the no. 2 spot and the twice-to-beat advantage that goes with it.
As per report coming out of the Meralco camp, Mitchell is suffering from back spasm, an injury that limited him from suiting up for the team, including its last game in the East Asia Super League in an 89-71 loss to Ryukyu Golden Kings.
Will Mitchell be healthy enough for the playoffs where the Bolts will face rival Barangay Ginebra in a best-of-three series? Or did the team just decide to rest the import for the bigger battle ahead?
Whatever it is, it would be a blow for the Bolts’ campaign if they continue to miss the services of the 32-year-old Panamanian-American.
3.RAIN OR SHINE, CONVERGE SET FOR AN OLD-FASHIONED SHOOTOUT
The Elasto Painters dealt the Tropang Giga a 10-point loss behind their fiery shooting from three-point range.
Guard Anton Assistio was 6-of-7 and Leonard Santillan 5-of-8 from rainbow territory to make up the bulk of Rain or Shine’s 17-of-31 shooting from the same area for a high 54.8 percent.
Converge ranks as one of the top three-point shooting team in the league behind rookie Jordan Heading, Alec Stockton, Bryan Santos, BJ Andrade, and Deschon Winston.
Expect a shootout therefore for both teams in their quarterfinals series, especially if the likes of Assistio, Andre Caracut, rookie Felix Lemeti, Jhonard Clarito and even big men Beau Belga and Keith Datu began hitting their strides from the three-point arc.
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