Do or die for Pals, Hotdogs, Aces, Kings

Forget the seedings.

It matters no more for Mobiline and Purefoods after both teams lost their crucial edge in their matchups with Barangay Ginebra and Alaska Milk Sunday. Each one now has its back to the wall.

The four teams travel to Antipolo together today, all facing the prospect of seeing the end of their campaign in the season.

The Phone Pals and the Gin Kings clash in a do-or-die game and so do the Hotdogs and the Aces in the continuation of what has become a thriller of a quarterfinals phase of the PBA Governors Cup at the Ynares Center.

For the record, since the playoff format in the post-elims play was first introduced in 1996, only two teams have made it past the quarterfinals by overcoming a twice-to-beat advantage by its rival.

Ginebra did this to Mobiline in last year’s All-Filipino Conference and the La Tondeña franchise is threatening to repeat the trick against the same opponent tonight.

Incidentally, two other teams in Alaska and San Miguel Beer have had half of the job done too against Purefoods and Tanduay.

The Kings forced a rubbermatch against the Phone Pals with a come-from-behind 84-81 win in their first duel Sunday. The Milkmen duplicated the Kings’ feat by repulsing the Hotdogs, 91-80, on the same day.

Ginebra and Alaska lived for a sudden-death but coaches of both teams expressed guarded optimism on the possibility of completing a two-game reversal.

"We’re expecting a big comeback from Mobiline. Remember, they topped the elimination round. Hindi nila magagawa iyun kung basta-basta lang ang team na iyan," said Ginebra coach Allan Caidic.

Caidic, however, vowed his team will go all-out to overcome the Phone Pals to make a return stint in the semifinals and possibly go all the way to bagging the team’s first crown since the 1997 Commissioner’s Cup.