What no bearing games?

Only 12 games are left in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) All-Filipino Cup double-round elimination schedule and the quarterfinals cast is slowly firming up.

So far, seven teams are safely through. And four of them made it after Purefoods bowed out of contention in a heartbreaking one-point loss to FedEx last Wednesday.

The Group A qualifiers are set. FedEx (9-6), San Miguel Beer (9-6), Alaska (8-8) and Sta. Lucia Realty (8-8) locked up quarterfinal tickets by virtue of Purefoods’ loss to the Express. The Hot Dogs (5-11) won’t advance even if they sweep their last two assignments against Talk ‘N’ Text and Shell because it’ll take eight wins to gain at least a tie for a qualifying slot in Group A.

But the fighting isn’t over for Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio.

In an innovation, the PBA is staging a single-round tournament among the last five elimination placers to decide the sixth qualifier for the Asian Invitationals. The top five finishers are automatically seeded. So the Hot Dogs aren’t off to an early vacation. They’ll be back to vie for a spot in the Second Conference.

PBA Commissioner Noli Eala’s innovation also means early quarterfinal qualifiers won’t be playing too many no-bearing games, if at all. They’ll be fighting tooth and nail to make sure of a spot in the magic circle of five.

Red Bull (12-4) is currently the only team assured of a slot in the Asian Invitationals. Either FedEx or San Miguel has a chance to tie the Thunder’s mark assuming Red Bull loses its last two games to Barangay Ginebra (5-11) tonight and Shell (5-10) on Wednesday. That’s because the Express and the Beermen square off for bragging rights Friday next week so theoretically, either team could reach 12 wins.

For the record, FedEx’ last assignments are against Sta. Lucia, San Miguel, and Coca-Cola while the Beermen take on Shell, the Express, and Talk ‘N’ Text to complete their schedule.

Purefoods, Shell, and Ginebra are the only teams assured of not making it to the top five because none will reach nine wins. The teams in contention to join Red Bull in the magic five are FedEx, San Miguel, Talk ‘N’ Text (9-7), Alaska (8-8), Sta. Lucia (8-8), and Coca-Cola (8-7). The Aces and the Tigers slug it out on Sunday so one of them is sure to make it to nine wins, leaving Shell out of the running.

Another unsettled issue is which Group B team won’t advance to the quarterfinals. Both Shell and Ginebra are struggling to stay alive. Shell has three games left to play–San Miguel Beer in today’s curtain raiser, Red Bull on Wednesday, and Ginebra on May 25. The Kings play Red Bull tonight then close out against Shell.

It’s possible that the last Group B quarterfinals ticket will be decided in the Ginebra-Shell game on May 25. Aside from Red Bull, the other Group B teams assured of advancing to the quarterfinals are Coca-Cola, Talk ‘N’ Text, and Shell. There’s a possibility–although remote–that Shell and Coca-Cola could end up with identical 8-10 records but that would mean the Turbo Chargers eliminating Ginebra to give the Tigers a free ride forward.

What this all means is Eala’s All-Filipino format is working like a charm. With seven teams in contention for five slots in the Invitationals and the last Group B quarterfinal qualifier still unknown, the remaining games in the eliminations are far from being no-bearing.

And only last Wednesday, FedEx’ win over Purefoods installed Derick Pumaren as the Group A coach in the coming All-Star Game. The race to pick the All-Star coaches was a dramatic sideshow in itself.

Eala said the All-Filipino format was conceptualized with the critical assumption of parity. It looks like the assumption has been proved valid as several issues remain unresolved going down to the last 12 games of the eliminations.

"We didn’t expect Red Bull to start so strongly," confessed Eala, referring to the Thunder’s 10-1 record off the gate. "But despite Red Bull’s outstanding start, we’ve got six teams within a win of each other and we still don’t know which team in Group B won’t make it to the quarterfinals. We don’t claim to have a perfect format. But from the way things are shaping up, we’re headed for a lot of bearing games in the homestretch."

Eala said he’ll continue to fine-tune the league’s tournament mechanics in coming conferences. That’s his personal assurance and you couldn’t ask more from the hard-working Comish.