MANILA, 22 May 2006 — Red Bull won a sixth straight game, and coach Yeng Guiao has a different concern.
“The problem is we might be peaking too fast,” the firebrand Guiao said, moments after his Barako ran Coca-Cola to the ground, 86-73, at the PhilSports Arena last night, to secure third seeding and an outright quarterfinal seat in the PBA Philippine Cup.
Red Bull jacked up its record to 9-6 with a game left in its classification phase assignment. But regardless of the outcome of its game against Barangay Ginebra, the Barako will go into the quarterfinals with the lightest foe.
“We just want to secure No. 3 because we will surely be fresher compared to the team we will play against,” Guiao said. “And of course, we want to ride that winning momentum.”
Tournament format calls for the top two teams to be seeded into the semifinals, in this case, Purefoods and San Miguel Beer. The next three teams will then qualify outright into the quarters with the bottom four to play in a single-round wild card phase.
There, teams will carry their records over with the one to finish first joining Nos. 3, 4 and 5 into the quarterfinals. In the event that a team sweeps the wild card phase, it gets a a chance to wrest the last quarterfinal spot from the natural sixth-placer in a one-game playoff.
The semifinals will be best-of-seven affairs between Nos. 1 and 4 and Nos. 2 and 3, with the title series also a race-to-four.
Guiao pulled an ace up his sleeve in rookie Leo Najorda, who came off the bench in the second quarter to score eight of his 14 points and help the Barako establish a 39-27 lead at halftime. Junethy Valenzuela paced Red Bull with 16 points and Lordy Tugade was the third man for Guiao in double digits with 13 as the Barako flaunted complete control in the second half with leads of as many as 21 points.
Coke dropped to 7-8 with also a game left — against the struggling but hungry Talk ‘N Text Phone Pals. The Tigers, who have only a single win to show in the second round, can still make the quarterfinals outright with a victory over the Phone Pals and hope that Ginebra drops one of its two remaining assignments.
The Red Bull win also assured the idle Alaska Aces of at least a playoff for the last outright quarterfinal slot. Alaska, being at 8-7, can lose to Ginebra and still avoid the wild card phase.
John Arigo led all Coke shooters with 22 and Ali Peek backed him up with 18 markers and nine rebounds.
But the Tigers couldn’t get it going early and fell into a hole they couldn’t climb out of. Purefoods continued winning despite a lineup depleted by injuries to key men after the Chunkee Giants edged Sta. Lucia, 87-84, in a no-bearing game earlier.
James Yap scored 22 points, including some crucial baskets in the fourth, and Richard Yee scattered 15 as Purefoods ended its classification round assignment with a two-game streak and a 12-4 card. It was a game that made coach Ryan Gregorio happy because his Giants played with so much character considering that they were down to nine healthy men and that they were playing for practically nothing.
Meanwhile, Eugene Tejada, the Purefoods forward who injured his spine in a loss to Red Bull two Saturdays ago, is recovering fine, according to Gregorio. After a four-hour operation performed by four surgeons on Thursday, Tejada yesterday reportedly moved his hips and has started to feel sensation in his lower body.
