Magnolia Chicken Timplados Hotshots and the Bolts will open Season 49 on August 18, Sunday.
Let the games begin.
Powerhouse squads Brgy. Ginebra and San Miguel are grouped in the same bracket, while defending champion TNT and reigning Philippine Cup titleholders Meralco find themselves in the same orbit early.
PBA will see a brand new format to kick off its 49th season with the Governors' Cup that feature all 12 teams divided into two groups, with the Tropang Giga and the Bolts joining the Magnolia Chicken Timplados Hotshots, Converge FiberXers, Terrafirma Dyip, and NorthPort Batang Pier in Group A.
Meanwhile, the Blackwater Bossing, Phoenix LPG Fuel Masters, NLEX Road Warriors, and the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters will be placed with the Gin Kings and the Beermen in Group B.
All teams will play their fellow groupmates twice, and therefore will play a total of 10 games in the elimination round.
The top-4 teams in each group will then advance in the crossover, best-of-five quarterfinal round where the no. 1 team in Group A will meet the no. 4 squad in Group B in the first pairing, and the second seed of the former will square off against the third-ranked squad of the latter for the second pairing.
Group A’s no. 3 team lock horns with Group B’s no. 2 squad for the third bracket as the fourth best team of the former will battle the top seed of the latter in the fourth and final pairing.
The winners of the first and last pairing, together with the two squads surviving in the second and third brackets, will figure in a best-of-seven semifinals and eventually the championship series.
Meanwhile, the Governors’ Cup will see a full-packed six-times-a-week game day except Monday with Meralco and Magnolia opening the 49th season on Sunday, August 18.
TNT will start their title defense against NorthPort on Tuesday, August 20 and then face an early test against the Bolts on Thursday, August 22.
NorthPort’s Jio Jalalon will face his former squad, Magnolia, for the first time on September 4.
Brgy. Ginebra will face the Beermen on Tuesday August 27 then again on Sunday, September 15.