Purefoods is in a tight spot, with the Star Hotshots and coach Tim Cone being in the same predicament they were in a total of nine times when they completed their Grand Slam last year.

The defending champion Hotshots are in danger of losing one of the three jewels they won last year this early after qualifying for the PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals’ first phase as the seventh seed.

That means Purefoods is in the lower half of the draw and with the huge task of beating a higher-ranked foe, which is in this case, Meralco, two straight times to make it to the next phase.

And that’s not all.

If the Hotshots survive the Bolts, they will advance to yet another KO match, which is the second phase of the quarterfinals, where they would most likely meet tournament No. 3 Alaska.

Purefoods survived a total of nine KO matches last year en route to its Triple Crown sweep, which was just the fifth in league history.

Cone, aside from being technically sound, is simply one of the best in driving his players to be at their best when the chips are truly down. His two Grand Slams did not happen by accident.

One thing going against the Hotshots in this tournament is the hunger factor, or, what could be the lack of it considering that they won everything last year.

Ian Sangalang is also out of commission, giving Cone one less good big man he can count on in the clutch. Sangalang was great in the Finals for Cone last year, bailing the then-San Mig Coffee Mixers out a number of times in the Commissioner’s Cup and Governors’ Cup title series.

James Yap, Marc Pingris, Peter June Simon, Joe Devance and Mark Barroca will have to carry most of the load for the Hotshots starting Thursday night when they play the Bolts at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay.

Cone will have to manage the minutes of his core because obviously, they are in for a longer grind than what they are used to with the semifinals, if they do get there, scheduled as a best-of-seven and the title series also being a race-to-four.

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Cone even blasted the tournament format on Tuesday after beating Barako Bull, 99-83, for a 6-5 card that didn’t stand in the tiebreak.

Barangay Ginebra and Meralco also finished with 6-5 slates but qualified in the upper half by virtue of superior quotients compared to what Purefoods had.

Cone scored the format by saying that it penalized excellence.

“I’ve been very vocal in the past that I think it’s a great disservice for teams being knocked out because of the quotient (system),” Cone, whose other Grand Slam came with Alaska, said.

“I think it’s a really unfair setup. The whole idea is reward the best teams, but you can’t determine that by quotient,” he continued.

I will disagree with coach Tim on this one.

If Purefoods wants something to blame, then it can do so on itself.

The Hotshots opened up the tournament with two straight losses and was at one point 1-3 in the standings, as Pingris was granted a break after seeing action for Gilas Pilipinas.

The 6-foot-7 Sangalang also tore an ACL in one of those games and will be out possibly for another conference.

Cone and all the other coaches in the field knew the format even before the tournament started. He could have griped that early and made his feelings known.

He could have squeezed the best out of his boys earlier in the tournament for them to get a good cushion instead of the other way around, when they tried to salvage a top half finish just when most of the other teams were also at their peak.

Cone and the Hotshots may have a huge disadvantage going into the quarterfinals. But I firmly believe that the lower-ranked teams like Purefoods, NLEX, Globalport and Barako Bull are at a disadvantage only in the first game.

If those lower-ranked sides win Game 1, the pressure goes to the other side.

That’s what Cone would surely be working for, for in the event of Purefoods-Meralco having a second game in their series, I honestly think that the Hotshots will have the edge.

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Alex Cabagnot will be having his homecoming with San Miguel Beer after a trade that also involved Sol Mercado with Globalport was approved before the trade deadline on Wednesday.

Cabagnot will certainly make the Beermen even more formidable in these playoffs, coming over with San Miguel having a nine-day break before its Final Four foe is determined.

Coach Leo Austria can brief the perennial All-Star about his system without rushing Cabagnot.

It just makes me wonder a bit why Globalport would be letting go of its best player at this point in the tournament where they would need to beat Barangay Ginebra two straight times to advance to the second phase.

I would have understood it if the Batang Pier had asked for a big man instead of another point guard.

Terrence Romeo and rookie Stanley Pringle are already there and adding Mercado to the mix did not give Globalport a different look.

The Batang Pier need big men in order to go deep in the playoffs, not another guard who operates best when he only has the ball, which is just like Romeo.

Globalport might wind up needing more than one ball to play.