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TALK ’N TEXT and San Miguel Beer begin another
battle when they meet the top two seeds at the start of the
best-of-seven semifinal series of the TNT-PBA Fiesta Conference
Wednesday at the Araneta Coliseum.
Both coming off a thrilling
ending in their own quarterfinal series, the Phone Pals and the
Beermen hope to capitalize on the momentum they got against the
well-rested and probably rusty opponents.
Talk ’N Text, which beat Air21
in deciding Game 3 in the quarters, collides with early semifinalist
and top seed Red Bull in the opener at 4:35 p.m.
In the main game, San Miguel, the
miracle team of the tournament, battles No. 2 seed Alaska at 7:20
p.m.
JJ Sullinger, Mark Cardona,
Anthony Washington and Felix Belano will be at the forefront of the
Phone Pals offense while the Bulls would rely much on their balanced
attack and the all-around game of James Penny.
Red Bull is coming off a 21-day
break as the wards of coach Yeng Guiao were the first team to clinch
the first automatic semifinals seat.
The Bulls did the feat minus main
man Enrico Villanueva, who was traded to San Miguel Beer for Romel
Adducul a few days before the end of the elimination round.
In the night cap, San Miguel, the
lowest seed in the top four at No. 6, braces for a tough stance
against the Aces, probably the dark horse to win the title of the
conference.
The Beermen had gone through lot
of adversities in the tournament, starting 0-6 and were 12 seconds
away of kissing their campaign goodbye in a wildcard playoff match
against Coca-Cola.
But they were able to pull that
one out and another one against Ginebra in Game 3 of their
quarterfinal series that went to overtime.
Beermen import Galen Young will
be facing his former team, Alaska, and good friend Rosell Ellis, the
Aces’ import.
“It’s gonna be exciting. I
know coach Tim [Cone] and I know Rosell [Ellis] with whom I’ve had
a lot of battles in the US. It’s gonna be a battle,” said Young,
one of the main reasons why San Miguel made a sudden turnaround in
the Fiesta Cup.
 --Joel
Orellana
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