Vacant throne beckons

Bubble final four rumble

SMART CLARK GIGA CITY, Pampanga, Philippines — It’s open season in the PBA Philippine Cup and the four hunters left standing are ready to engage in a grand chase for the most coveted trophy of all.

TNT Tropang Giga, Phoenix Super LPG, Barangay Ginebra and Meralco – survivors of the gruelling quarterfinals that had among its casualties five-peat champ San Miguel Beer – take the next step in their drive for glory as they figure in a pair of explosive semifinal duels beginning today.

The Jayson Castro-led Tropang Giga, on a title drought spanning 13 conferences, and the bubble MVP frontrunner Matthew Wright-bannered Fuel Masters, yet to score a franchise championship breakthrough, kick off their best-of-five series at 3:45 p.m. at the AUF Sports Arena Powered by Smart 5G.

The Gin Kings, who haven’t won the All-Filipino since 2006, and the Bolts, who reached their first semis stint by dethroning twice-to-beat SMB with two gutsy victories in the Last-8, slug it out in Game One at 6:30 p.m.

Ginebra, spearheaded by Stanley Pringle, and Meralco, bannered by Chris Newsome, are renewing their rivalry after hard-fought encounters in three Governors’ Cup finals.

The Gin Kings prevailed in all three but that’s not in any way making coach Tim Cone feel safe.

“Round 4 versus Meralco. It’s getting harder and harder because they continue to grow and get better. This will be their toughest version yet with (Raymond) Almazan and the maturity of their young core plus the wily veteran (Reynel) Hugnatan,” he said.

“Coach Norman (Black) always gets the best out of his teams. Their gameplan and execution against SMB was tremendous. We know we have a huge fight in our hands. It’s on us to prepare for it,” he added.

Black and Co. seek to ride the momentum of that confidence-boosting disposal of the Beermen against their old tormentors.

“They’ve been getting the better end of our matchup. Hopefully, we can change that this conference,” said Black.

TNT versus Phoenix similarly promises to be an epic,

“It was a tough game against them in the elims and now that (Abueva) is here, we expect it to be tougher,” said TNT mentor Bong Ravena.