BARANGAY Ginebra braces for its match against TNT on Friday night with the winner taking a step closer to claiming the top seed in the quarterfinals of the PBA Philippine Cup.
The Gin Kings and the Tropang Giga clash at 6:45 p.m. with both teams on top of the standings after holding a 6-2 win-loss card.
Following his team’s 112-100 win over NorthPort on Wednesday, Ginebra coach Tim Cone is looking at the match-up for first place in the standings in a different perspective. Cone also knows that being the top seed in the playoffs hasn’t been good for him, most notably in the 2011-2012 Philippine Cup where his B-Meg squad was defeated by eighth-ranked Powerade in the quarterfinals.
“We are not really worried about top seed,” said Cone. “We are worried about top four. That’s what we are trying to do. (Wednesday’s game) was really, really crucial for that top four spots. We are looking at Talk ‘N Text as the team that is in front of us and we try to beat. If we can beat them, that gives us a better chance of top four.”
“Whether one, two, three, four really doesn’t make that much difference. In fact, I have not done well with top-seeded teams. We always seemed to get beat in the quarters. It happened with Purefoods, happened with Ginebra. I’m a little leery about the top seed. We will take it if we get it,” Cone said.
The Ginebra-TNT clash, nevertheless, will be a marquee match-up between two squads who got off to strong starts in the conference. Ginebra began the Philippine Cup bubble with four straight victories, only to be topped by TNT's five straight wins.

The Tropang Giga, however, are out to bounce back from their 102-92 loss to Magnolia on Wednesday.
Cone said the battle will see teams with contrasting styles of play with Ginebra expecting once again to be led by Stanley Pringle and Japeth Aguilar on the offensive end.
“Right now, it’s just a head-to-head game with Talk ‘N Text. They play a certain style different from ours. They get up and down the floor really well. They take the boat load of three-point shots and we are a bit more of a steady team. We play the tempo game a little bit more. We’ll try to work the ball and use the clock a little bit longer.”
TNT, on the other hand, has Bobby Ray Parks, RR Pogoy, and Jayson Castro leading the way in the bubble.
“It’s a real contrast in styles when we play them. One is not necessarily better than the other. It’s really gonna come down to who can execute. That’s what we are going to focus on both offensively and defensively,” said Cone.
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