The PBA awaits the last team that will complete the Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup playoff picture.
NorthPort sits comfortably atop everyone at the end of the elimination round of the PBA Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup.
But the Batang Pier — who zoomed to an impressive 9-3 record behind import Kadeem Jack, Best Player of the Conference frontrunner Arvin Tolentino, and Joshua Munzon — still await their foe in the playoffs.
The eighth-seeded team will complete the playoff picture, and it’s a spot Magnolia and NLEX will vie for on Sunday, Feb. 2, in a one-game knockout.
The match starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
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The victor will face the Batang Pier in the quarterfinals, with NorthPort armed with the coveted twice-to-beat edge.
Meanwhile, here’s the rest of the playoff bracket for the PBA Commissioner's Cup:
#4 Ginebra (8-4) vs #5 Meralco (7-5):
These two rivals will face for the ninth time in the PBA playoffs since the 2016 Governors’ Cup. The two will engage in a best-of-three quarterfinal affair, with the winner facing the victor of the NorthPort-NLEX/Magnolia pairing in the semifinals.
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32 TNT (8-4) vs #7 Eastern (7-5):
TNT will head to this match armed with a twice-to-beat advantage over Eastern.
But the Tropang Giga will hope to not use that incentive, knowing full well how lethal the guest team led by Chris McLaughlin, Hayden Blankley, and Glen Yang can be.
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#3 Converge (8-4) vs #6 Rain or Shine (7-5):
Rain or coach Yeng Guiao is very much wary of the FiberXers.
Converge, after all, could have easily been be a top-2 team with the way the team is playing in the mid-season joust.
With Jordan Heading, Justine Baltazar, Justin Arana, Alec Stockton, and import Cheick Diallo at the forefront of the team’s attack, Converge could pretty much beat anyone.
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But the Elasto Painters also have their own version of a relatively young, but still talented core led by Adrian Nocum, Andrei Caracut, Jhonard Clarito and Caelan Tiongson.
One can only expect a dogfight of a series between the two teams hungry to make a deep playoff run.
The winner will face either TNT or Eastern in the penultimate stage.