Rested Kings, Beermen open Final 4 drive

MANILA, Philippines - The Final Four of the Motolite PBA Fiesta Cup gets going today at the Araneta Coliseum with a pair of best-of-seven matches pitting two of the league’s most popular teams that had the luxury of a long rest against virtual underdogs that had to take the hard route to get into the semis.

San Miguel Beer, which topped the classification phase in impressive fashion but had not seen action the last four weeks, finally plunges into the battle against Burger Machine, which is coming off a rousing 120-72 victory over Sta. Lucia Realty in their sudden death for the third semis berth last Sunday.

Gametime is at 5 p.m.

Barangay Ginebra, which made a big surge after a sputtering start to clinch the other outright semis seat, also tries to shrug off the ill effects of a long layoff against a fired-up Rain or Shine squad that outfoxed a fancied Purefoods side, 93-89, in the other rubber match, also last Sunday.

“We know we are the overwhelming underdogs. But that’s the way we like it. These guys have already over-achieved but I believe we’re not done yet. We’ll bring this as far as we can,” said BK coach Yeng Guiao.

SMB coach Siot Tanquingcen knows fully well of the pressure on the Beermen to show their competitive fire, stressing they need to re-display the form they showed in the elims to stay on track of their title drive.

“We have to come out with our A-game. Otherwise, we would be in trouble. We saw Sunday that Burger King is in top condition. They played like a well-oiled machine against Sta.Lucia,” said Tanquingcen.

During the long break, San Miguel and Ginebra had only one tune-up match against each other which the Beermen won.

“We had beaten Rain or Shine twice in the classification round but the semis is an entirely different game because this is now the playoffs,” said Ginebra coach Jong Uichico. “They have the advantage in the opener since they’re enjoying momentum coming from a win Sunday.”

But Rain or Shine coach Caloy Garcia said Ginebra is a tough team to beat although he remains upbeat of his wards’ chances against the crowd favorites in their 7:30 p.m. duel.

“Ginebra has the size and quickness that they can get lots of mismatches which make them a tough team to beat. But we are optimistic that if we don’t get too excited and be mentally focused, we have a chance,” said Garcia.

PBA experts and watchers, however, point to San Miguel and Ginebra as the overwhelming favorites in terms of manpower and perhaps crowd support.