Riding the crest of a pair of surprising victories in Thursday’s semis opener in Pasay City, the Water Force take on the Hapee Teeth Sparklers at 2 p.m. while the Jewelers battle the John-O Senators at 4 p.m.
Drawing another explosive performance from Dennis Miranda, Viva stunned John-O, 60-58, while Montana leaned on Gary David to pull the rug from under Hapee, 63-61.
Miranda and David are expected to carry the cudgels again for the Water Force and the Jewellers, respectively, although Hapee coach Junel Baculi and John-O mentor Dong Vergaire vowed to make adjustments and make up for their disappointing losses.
"We were too complacent in that game, maybe because we’re too rusty after a two-week rest," said Vergaire. "But it’s no excuse so we have to come up with several adjustments to make up for that sorry loss."
"I told the boys to forget about our record in the previous round and think about stepping up a notch higher because this is an entirely different ballgame," Baculi said. "It’s back to the drawing board for us."
But first things first.
Baculi has to remove the complacency out of the Teeth Sparklers, who were outrebounded by the Jewelers, 27-44, yielding 13 offensive caroms that were translated to 22 points.
Hapee also turned the ball over 23 times, majority in the final four minutes of the game that cost it the game.
"There are a lot of things we need to change," Baculi explained. "But the most important thing is not to be too over-confident."