Viva goes for final berth; Hapee tries to stay in race

League-leading Viva Mineral Water-FEU goes for the first final berth today when it battles Welcoat Paints even as defending champion Hapee Toothpaste tries desperately to stay in contention in the 2004 PBL Unity Cup at the Pasig Sports Center.

Emboldened by a pace-setting 11-1 record and a nine-game winning streak, the Water Force have to win only one of four remaining games in the double round robin semis to secure the first final slot and get another chance to complete what they failed to finish last season.

The Water Force almost caught everybody by surprise when they advanced into the finals and engaged eventual champion Hapee in one of the exciting and dramatic final series in years. Lack of experience did them in.

Now that another opportunity is presenting itself, Viva-FEU coach Koy Banal and his boys are willing to work doubly hard and perhaps make some sacrifices to snare the first finals berth and prove to everybody, including their detractors, that their feat last year was no fluke.

Viva-FEU and Welcoat, teams likely to meet in the finals, clash at 4 p.m. after the 2 p.m. showdown between slumping Hapee and Toyota Otis-Letran.

The Teeth Sparklers, who lost by an average of 17 points in their last two games, have to win their four remaining games, including their game against the Knights, to force a playoff for the second finals berth.

Hapee, tied for third to fourth places with Toyota Otis-Letran at 5-7, remains two games behind Welcoat (7-5).

But beating the Knights won’t be easy, for sure. The Knights are coming off a morale-boosting 71-68 victory over the Paint Masters.

The Paint Masters, bidding for their first title in two years, inflicted the only defeat by the Water Force when they beat them 89-80 last April 6 but the Morayta-based squad bounced back the second time they met this year, scoring a thrilling 73-71 win–thanks to a huge basket by Dennis Miranda with barely 1.6 ticks left.

Banal dismissed the notion that the law of averages would finally catch them up after peaking too early, claiming he has so much respect to the talent and working ethic of his boys.

"I do believe in the law of momentum that’s why we’re still winning until now and from time to time, tinitignan ko kung lumalaki na ang ulo ng mga bata at nagyayabang sila pero wala pa naman so far. And they’re still working hard even in our practice," said Banal.

Gerard Jones and Miranda are expected to play sparingly after their bouts with flu last week but Banal remains confident they could beat the Paint Masters as long as top gun Arwind Santos, Mark Isip, Warren Ybanez and Jason Misolas are around and healthy.

On the other hand, the Paint Masters have to play really smart basketball for four quarters to beat an intelligent squad like the Water Force.

They lived and died with Jojo Tangkay the last time as the league’s leading scorer - averaging close to 20 points a game, was held to just seven points on an awful 1-of-17 shooting from the floor.