Lopsided duel or May Mayhem?

MANILA, Philippines — Moments after Rain or Shine followed defending champion San Miguel Beer to the PBA Philippine Cup semis, coach Yeng Guiao immediately turned on the mental game.

“I think the series is for them to lose,” Guiao said as he noted the Beermen’s big advantage in firepower, playoff experience and resources against his youth-laden crew entering the race-to-four semis opener today at the MOA Arena.

“Itong seven-game series na ito this is going to be  our best learning experience, kalaban mo pa yung San Miguel. So kahit anong mangyari, panalo na kami rito, walang mawawala sa amin, madagdagan pa kaalaman namin dito.”

It’s Guiao’s way of taking the pressure off his young guns while shifting it heavily to their mighty opponents as they fire the first salvo in the 4:30 p.m. tiff preceding Game 1 of the other series between old rivals Ginebra and Meralco at 7:30 p.m.

“We want San Miguel to feel all the pressure dahil wala nang pressure sa amin. Panalo na, champion na kami sa isip namin (by getting this far).”

Of course, this doesn’t mean ROS will give it to SMB that easily.

“We will play as hard as we can. Lalaban lang kami. Baka maka-tsamba pa rin. Kung five percent lang ang chance namin manalo, baka matapat sa five percent eh, di ba?” said Guiao, whose team booted out No. 4 TNT in Sunday’s deciding Game 3, 110-109.

Against SMB’s battle-tested aces June Mar Fajardo, CJ Perez, Terrence Romeo, Jericho Cruz and Don Trollano, it will surely be a true test of toughness and character for the gritty ROS led by veterans Beau Belga and Gabe Norwood and youthful Andrei Caracut, Gian Mamuyac, Santi Santillan, Adrian Nocum and Jhonard Clarito.

The No. 1 and twice-to-beat Beermen took a longer route to the Final Four after being dragged to a sudden death by No. 8 Terrafirma in the first match, 106-95. But they got the job done just the same with a 110-91 clincher Wednesday and stayed on track for not only back-to-back All Filipino crowns but also a sweep of two-conference Season 48.

“We’re back to zero. Elims is done, quarterfinals is done,” Gallent said in illustrating SMB’s mindset.

Meanwhile, the Gin Kings and the Bolts brace for a dogfight in their eighth playoffs matchup in the last eight seasons.