Meralco shoots for a second straight crown as the PBA 3x3 resumes after a two-week break with its fifth and penultimate leg Saturday, April 2 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Bolts, who beat the Limitless Appmasters to rule the fourth leg, begin their bid in Pool A with Platinum Karaoke, Pioneer Pro Tibay, CAVITEX Braves and NorthPort Batang Pier.
Tonino Gonzaga, Dexter Maiquez and Joseph Sedurifa will be joined by Maclean Sabellina as Alfred Batino, one of the big reasons for Meralco’s win over Limitless, was placed on the reserve list.
They will play three games in the leg’s first day, first against Platinum Karaoke, followed by Platinum and NorthPort.
Those games are part of a busy 16-game schedule which starts at 8 a.m.
Limitless looks to bounce back in Pool B against Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, Master Sardines and Sista while Pool C has a stacked lineup of TNT, San Miguel Beer, Purefoods and Terrafirma.
Teams are scrambling to pick up crucial points in order to have strong chances of doing well in the Grand Finals where the second conference championship is at stake.
Limitless is on top of the overall standings with 310 points, followed by Meralco (300), TNT (295) and San Miguel (245). The top four teams after the sixth leg will gain outright entries to the knockout stage of the Grand Finals.
Ginebra sits in fifth (220), Platinum is in sixth (151), Pioneer at seventh spot (147) with Sista (124), Purefoods (108) and Terrafirma (108) rounding out the top 10.
In the bubble are NorthPort (95), Master Sardines (75) and NorthPort (62) as they need to make it inside the top 10 in order to play in the Grand Finals.