Game One will be at the San Juan Gym where the Knights, who nailed the Crossover Cup earlier in the year, are favored over the Slashers who are still reeling from the loss of their main man to injury.
The cheering, sometimes emotional San Juan fans will be a key factor for the Knights’ bid to gain the headstart of the series since the Knights enjoy tremendous home crowd and home court edge after they came up with the best win-loss record in the season.
And San Juan hopes to get the best from this advantage when it tangles with Negros at 4 p.m. in Game One of their highly-anticipated best-of-seven duel that could be a classic clash of speed and height.
With Christian Calaguio finding his shooting range and the trio of 6’9" Bonel Balingit, 6’8" Rafi Reavis and 6’6" Omanzie Rodriguez imposing their inside strength, the Knights dethroned the Manila Metrostars, 3-1, to lord it over the Northern Conference.
Negros, on the other hand, claimed a storied finish with a man-sized upset of last year’s losing finalist Cebu in their own best-of-five series in the South, setting up this dream match-up even without former MVP John Ferriols.
" Of course we will miss John in the series, but then again, what’s good with this team is that it thrives on emotion, it draws strength from our trials and the guys proved that when we beat the Cebu Gems," said Negros coach Robert Sison.
In fact, the Slashers boast of a talented guard platoon of Maui Huelar, Johanedel Cardel, Aldrich Reyes, Chris-Dennis Madrid and brothers Romeo and Rueben Dela Rosa that could crank up the Slashers terrific running game. He also needs to push his frontline composed of Fil-Am Cid White, formerly of the Nueva Ecija Patriots, Alvin Teng, Rainer Hugnatan and Leo Bat-og to come up with huge games to help neutralize the Knights’ bid.
Still, San Juan is considered the favorite to nail the title with coach Philip Cezar expected to exploit the teams’ advantage in height and tremendous firepower.