Midpack teams start best-of-3 face-offs

MANILA, Philippines —   They fought very hard amid a challenging elimination round to get to the PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals.

Now the task is on Meralco, TNT, Rain or Shine and NLEX to make it count and take it to the next level.

The third-seeded Bolts and the No. 6 Road Warriors race to land the first blow in the short best-of-three series as they open playoffs hostilities today at 4:30 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The fourth-ranked Tropang Giga and the No. 5 Elasto Painters then dispute the head start in their own race-to-two contest at 7:30 p.m.

The four squads have survived a tight chase for Last-8 spots that saw them and Magnolia finish with identical 6-5 cards in a heavy logjam behind Top 2 San Miguel Beer (10-1) and Barangay Ginebra (7-4).

After the tiebreak, Meralco, TNT, ROS and NLEX landed in the safe zone as the Hotshots fell to No. 7 with a twice-to-win handicap against the Gin Kings.

Terrafirma completed the cast with a 104-96 disposal of NorthPort in Wednesday’s knockout for No. 8 and a date with the mighty Beermen.