It's a free-for-all thing when the curtain falls on Season 3 of the PBA 3x3 Third Conference on Monday, Feb. 19.
Tight battle looms 3x3 finale
At a glance
It's a free-for-all thing when the curtain falls on Season 3 of the PBA 3x3 Third Conference on Monday, Feb. 19.
Earlier favored to win it all, grand slam-seeking TNT suddenly looks vulnerable and is expected to meet stiff opposition from top seeded team Meralco, leg winners Cavitex and MCFASolver together with the four others who will advance in the grand finale at the Ayala Malls Glorietta.
As the top four finishers which accumulated the highest tour points at the end of the conference, the Bolts, Triple Giga, Braves, and Tech Centrale are seeded outright to the knockout stage.
The four remaining slots meanwhile, will be filled up by the six teams that earned qualifications to the grand finale, namely Blackwater Smooth Razor, San Miguel Beer, Purefoods TJ Titans, Pioneer Elastoseal, Terrafirma 3x3, and Barangay Ginebra.
Pool A will have the Smooth Razor, Katibays, and Dyip, while Pool B is composed of the Beermen, Titans, and Kings.
Game time starts at 2 p.m.
The Triple Giga topped the last six grand finals – including a sweep of Season 2- and are poised for another grand slam should they emerge victorious anew and bag the top prize worth P750,000.
But the team of coach Mau Belen struggled in the final conference of the season that saw the emergence of Meralco as the force to reckon with after winning half of the six-leg phase.
With everything on the line, all teams are coming to the final battle with their best players possible.
Meralco will continue to bank on the high-scoring tandem of Joseph Sedurifa and Jeff Manday, many-time scoring king Almond Vosotros is back for TNT after missing the final leg of the season, Second Conference scoring champion Brandon Ramirez remains at the helm of MCFASolver, and Cavitex relies anew on veteran Jorey Napoles.
Also to watch out for are the explosive Wendel Comboy of Blackwater and the ever reliable Ken Bono of San Miguel.
The quarterfinal pairings will have Pool A topnotcher battling no. 4 MCFASolver, top seed Meralco facing the no. 2 team from Pool B, no. 2 TNT going up against the second best team from Pool A, and third seed Cavitex taking on the top team in Pool B.
Runner-up team will receive P250,000 and third placer P100,000.