MANILA, Philippines – Defending champion San Mig Coffee takes on Barako Bull while Petron Blaze plays Globalport in the opener of the mid-season Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Feb. 8.
Talk n Text and Rain or Shine, the title protagonists in the recent Philippine Cup, return into action in the second conference, tackling Meralco and Alaska Milk, respectively, on Feb. 9.
Barangay Ginebra and Air21 will be up against each other in their Commissioners Cup debuts on Feb. 10.
Tournament format is a shortened Philippine Cup where the 10 teams figure in one-round-robin preliminaries with the best eight advancing to the quarterfinals.
The top two teams enjoy a twice-to-beat edge over the eighth and seventh seeds in the quarters, and it’s No. 3 versus No. 6 and No. 4 against No. 5 in a pair of best-of-three duels. The four survivors slug it out in best-of-seven showdowns with the finale also a race-to-four-games affair.