Momentum on side of Pals, Aces

Talk n Text and Alaska Milk both hope to ride the momentum of their emphatic victories the last time out while Barangay Ginebra and Air21 seek to come out of a slump in today’s doubleheader in the Gran Matador Brandy PBA Philippine Cup at the Astrodome.

The Phone Pals and the Aces play in the 4:40 p.m. curtain raiser both oozing with confidence following huge wins over separate rivals Sunday.

The Pals broke into the win-column in the All-Filipino tourney on an 88-66 rout of the Purefoods Chunkee Giants at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium in Hong Kong while the Aces nailed a second win in four starts with a 99-84 demolition of the Air21 Express over at the Araneta Coliseum.

"We’re still adjusting with one another, but we hope to sustain the momentum of our win against Purefoods," said new Talk n Text mentor Derrick Pumaren.

"We just came out with more defensive intensity which was lacking in our past two games. It seems that all the teams are trying to press us and not allow us to play the triangle. We did a good job in attacking the press," said Alaska coach Tim Cone after checking a two-game slump against Air21.

Raring to boost their sagging bids following back-to-back defeats are both the Ginebra Kings and the Air21 Express who clash at 7:35 p.m.

The Kings have got the worse case, having lost their last two games on franchise season-low outputs.

The team barely avoided tying its franchise all-time low of 54 points Wednesday as Aris Dimaunahan scored on a jumper before the final buzzer sounded in their game against Purefoods.

Ginebra was beaten by San Miguel, 59-77, Friday and whipped by Purefoods, 56-73, five days later.

Curiously, the Kings suffered those embarrassing losses despite the return of main man Eric Menk from injury.

Air21, meanwhile, bungled what had looked like a won ballgame against Sta. Lucia, 100-102, last Friday and suffered an 84-99 blowout at the hands of the Aces Sunday.

With those setbacks, the Express set out for today’s game tied with the Realtors in the tailend of the chart with identical 1-3 win-loss cards.

Talk n Text is slightly ahead at 1-2, then there are Ginebra, Purefoods, San Miguel and Alaska deadlocked at third place with similar 2-2 records.

Meanwhile, Fiesta Cup champion Red Bull seeks to firm up its hold of second place as it goes for a third win against a lone defeat versus San Miguel Beer in a provincial game at the Urdaneta Sports Center in Urdaneta, Pangasinan at 4:30 p.m. tomorrow.