Champs clash in quarters

MANILA, Philippines — Pitted early in the PBA Governors’ Cup playoffs, only one between San Miguel Beer and Barangay Ginebra will get to move forward with its quest for a golden double in Season 50.

Philippine Cup titlist Beermen and Commissioner’s Cup ruler Gin Kings found themselves in a royal rumble for a spot in the semifinals of the season-ending conference after taking No. 2 seeding in Group A and No. 3 in Group B, respectively.

“You fight your way into the playoffs and your reward is you have to play San Miguel,” coach Tim Cone said of facing powerhouse SMB after his Ginebra charges averted elimination by sweeping their last two games in group play, including the 101-96 clincher over Blackwater.

“But you know, you don’t get to really choose who you get. Obviously, we’re not excited to play San Miguel but we’ll take on all comers. And it’s a best-of-five series, so that kind of equals it all out. So it should be a really good battle to see who comes in. I think the matchups are kind of very interesting.”

Though still without Justin Brownlee, Ginebra has found a capable import in Jordan Murphy against SMB counterpart George King.

“He’s not flashy, but man, he’s a workhorse and he does his job. And he fills the holes of our team very well. And so we’re real pleased with Jordan,” said Cone.

The Gin Kings and the Beermen open their race-to-three dispute tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum following the equally explosive Game 1 between Group B No. 2 Rain or Shine and Group A No. 3 Converge at 5:15 p.m.