MANILA, 28 May 2004 — The Talk N’ Text Phone Pals secured at least a playoff for a twice-to-beat slot in the Gran Matador PBA Fiesta Conference with a 116-110 win over the sliding Coca-Cola Tigers on Wednesday night at the Araneta Coliseum.
The Phone Pals closed out their elimination round campaign with 11-7 (win-loss) mark, good for second place behind runaway eliminations topnotcher San Miguel Beermen.
But the Phone Pals still have to wait for the results of the final outings of the Alaska Aces, Red Bull Barako and the Tigers to know if they would make the quarters outright or figure in a playoff for a twice-to-beat berth in the knockout rounds.
A win by all three teams would relegate the Phone Pals to a playoff with the Tigers for fourth place - the last twice-to-beat slot.
Under such a scenario, Alaska and Red Bull would battle for the outright quarterfinal seat with the loser settling for a twice-to-beat incentive in the wildcard phase. Coke slipped into a tie for third to fifth places at 10-7 and could pay dearly for a missed free throw by Rafi Reavis near the end.
Reavis’ missed free throw hurt Coke’s standing in the quotient tiebreak and could cause the Tigers a chance to fight for the automatic quarterfinal seat in case Red Bull, TNT and Coke forged a three-way jam for second place.
Had Reavis made the free throw, the Tigers would have been guaranteed a playoff with the Barako in the event a three-way tie scenario takes shape.
Taulava chalked up his 15th double-double performance with 21 points and 13 rebounds. He chipped in 16 as the Phone Pals tallied 66 at half-time while shooting 64.3-percent from the field.
The Phone Pals came out firing in the first quarter, making 17 of their 20 attempts for a hot 85-percent clip to break the 40-point mark.
Talk N’ Text spitfire Jimmy Alapag drained a three-pointer to push the Phone Pals to what seemed like a safe 105-91 lead with only seven minutes to go in the game. But the Tigers made a 9-0 run to come to within five points of the Talk N’ Text lead 105-100 with still 5:34 to go.
Jerald Honeycutt then showed why the Talk N’ Text franchise took him back into the fold after their first import Randy Holcomb showed he couldn’t win close games, first converting on a follow up of his own miss then adding seven more points to personally keep the Tigers at bay.
Miller, coming off back-to-back 28-point games, scored 19 of his 25 points before the intermission, matching the output of their import Gerald Honeycutt.
In the second game, Shell avoided a possible twice-to-win disadvantage in the wildcard phase of the playoffs with a 120-110 victory over Sta. Lucia.
They will finish at either number 6, 7 or 8 spot depending on the result of the remaining four games in the eliminations. Shell was only too glad to win over Sta. Lucia and solidify its place in the knockout matches in the wildcard playoffs for berths in the quarterfinals.
Shell import Jameel Watkins missed a triple double by one assist tallying 44 points, 23 rebounds and nine assists.
The Realtors climbed to within seven points of the Turbochargers’ lead, 97-104, after Derek Brown drilled a three-pointer with 4:54 minutes to go in the game. But Anthony Dela Cruz and Ronald Tubid conspired for an 8-0 blast by Shell to virtually ice the game, 112-97, with 3:12 left.
