MANILA, Philippines – Meralco, with two-time Best Import winner Allen Durham, tangles with Columbian Dyip while TNT KaTropa takes on NLEX Road Warriors in the opener of the PBA Governors Cup Friday at the Ynares Sports Center in Antipolo.
Commissioner’s Cup title protagonists Barangay Ginebra and San Miguel Beer are allowed extended rest and won’t see action until the third week of the tourney where GlobalPort is to play under a new banner — North Port.
Rain or Shine is the last to make its conference debut on September 22 since its core players and coach Caloy Garcia will render duty to the national team in the Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Ginebra, now the titleholder in the Commissioner’s Cup and the Governors Cup, starts chase of a three-peat in the season-ending tourney against Columbian Dyip on August 31 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
San Miguel mixes it up with NLEX the next day also at the Big Dome while ROS plays its first game in the tourney versus TNT KaTropa in a road game in Passi City, Iloilo on September 22.
In focus are imports with a height ceiling of 6-foot-5 led by former Best Import winners Durham, Justin Brownlee of Ginebra and AZ Reid of San Miguel.
Nine teams opted to bring in tested PBA imports with only three ball clubs signing up new faces.
The newcomers are Columbian Dyip’s Akeen Wright, Alaska Milk’s Mike Harris and North Port’s Rashad Woods.
Banking on old tested imports like Meralco, Ginebra and SMB are Rain or Shine with J’Nathan Bullock, TNT KaTropa with Mike Glover, Phoenix Petroleum with Eugene Phelps, Blackwater with Henry Walker, Magnolia with Romeo Travis and NLEX with Oluseyi Ashaolu.