Familiar foes collide as marquee semis tiff fires off
Published Jun 24, 2025 01:52 pm
At A Glance
- Familiar faces meet as the four remaining teams in the PBA Season 49 Philippine Cup found themselves at crossroads once more in the semifinals which fires off on Wednesday, June 25, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Familiar faces meet as the four remaining teams in the PBA Season 49 Philippine Cup found themselves at crossroads once more in the semifinals which fires off on Wednesday, June 25, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
TNT, whose Grand Slam bid got a new lease on life after surviving a twice-to-win disadvantage in the quarterfinals, battles Rain or Shine – a team it has faced the past two conferences in the first offering at 5 p.m.
Perennial contenders San Miguel and Barangay Ginebra rekindle their own rivalry in the second game at 7:30 p.m.
Interestingly, it would not be the first time that the same four teams are vying for a seat in the finals.
In the season-opening Governors’ Cup, it was also the same matchups that were set in the semifinals, with the Tropang 5G and the Kings winning their respective series to arrange their finals dance.
It was almost the same in the next conference, the Commissioner’s Cup except that NorthPort took on the place of SMB against Ginebra while TNT and ROS figured in their second straight semis duel.
While it was pretty much the same matchup – it was their third straight semis duel this season– both the Tropang 5G and the Elasto Painters agree that their showdown this time is entirely different.
For one – and perhaps the most glaring difference – is the absence of the imports which TNT gained advantage of in their first two semis meetings, having back-to-back Best Import winner Rondae Hollis-Jefferson in the fold.
But injuries have severely affected TNT, with Jayson Castro and Rey Nambatac at the sick bay and Brian Heruela and newly acquired Jordan Heading all nursing injuries as well.
“Like I said, our focus is the rest and recovery for the next game. Kasi alam ko na patagalan na lang talaga because we know Magnolia is not going to give in. Same way here in the semis, whoever that we are going to play here nis going to be hungry, they are not going to give up,” said TNT head coach Chot Reyes.
Meanwhile, for the part of Ginebra, which will be facing up against a rejuvenated SMB after it missed the playoffs in the last conference, it is expecting an even tougher series this time around, since the Philippine Cup, historically, has been the conference for the June Mar Fajardo-led Beermen.
I mean that's really obvious. When they go All-Filipino, they are motivated, they are confident, and they play really tight together. So that's really their best conference, obviously, said Cone.