Kings out to stop surging Dragons

Barangay Ginebra and Welcoat slug it out at 7:30 p.m. with Kings coach Jong Uichico anticipating a tough challenge from the Dragons who are off to a competitive start in the Talk n Text PBA Fiesta Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

It will be a showdown of the winner and the worst finisher in the recent Philippine Cup.

"They may be the worst finisher in the All-Filipino but they’ve been playing well right now. We can’t take them for granted," said Uichico.

Uichico hopes to get the needed boost from import Rod Nealy as they seek to bounce back from a loss to the Alaska Milk Aces in their first game in the tourney Sunday.

"Nealy gave us the number but didn’t give us the energy that we needed," said Uichico on the debut of his import.

Sta. Lucia Realty and Purefoods clash in the day’s 4:35 p.m. curtain-raiser with both looking to snap a two-game skid.

Meanwhile, San Miguel Beer and Coca-Cola depart for Tubod, Lanao del Norte where they battle in the tourney’s first road game at the Mindanao Civic Center Saturday.

San Miguel is parading new import Paul McMillan, a product of Loyola-Illinois who took over from Vidal Massiah.

The Beermen went 0-2 with Massiah. The former Canadian national team member scored only 11 points on 5-of-16 shooting from the field against Red Bull and had a big fat egg versus Air21.