Petron, Powerade try to finish off gritty semifinal foes in PBA Philippine Cup

Games today:

Araneta Coliseum

4:15 p.m.- Petron vs. Talk ‘N Text

6:30 p.m.- Rain or Shine vs. Powerade

Former sister teams Petron Blaze Boosters and Powerade Tigers try to arrange a championship date as they look to finish off their respective foes in Game 6 of the 37th PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Boosters take another crack at barging to the Finals when they play the defending champions Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters in the first game, while the Tigers will also try to go for the kill against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in the main game.

Petron and Powerade lead their respective series, 3-2.

The Texters lived to fight another day after pulling off a thrilling 93-91 win over the Boosters last Friday night with Jimmy Alapag banging in a crucial triple in the final 44 seconds that helped his team keep alive their bid of becoming the first team to defend an All-Filipino title in almost three decades.

“Sabi nga nila habang may buhay, may pagasa. We’ll fight to live on,” Talk ‘N Text coach Chot Reyes said.

As if needing to win the last two games of the series to advance to the title round is not daunting enough, the Texters are also in dilemma how to cope with the injury of Fil-Am forward Kelly Williams.

“Tinatago namin ‘yon since Game One. Kelly heard something pop in his hamstring in practice. Nailaro pa rin niya pero kanina (last Friday’s game) bumigay na,” said Reyes.

The Tigers, on the other hand, will be looking to complete its first Finals appearance since bolting from the San Miguel Corp. group in 2004.

Powerade broke a 2-2 tie with a close 110-108 victory last Friday.

David scored 28 points in that win, barely missing a seventh straight 30-point production dating back to the quarterfinals.

“This is the time for him to shine,” said Powerade coach Bo Perasol of Casio. “But the series is not yet over. What just happened was we put ourselves closer to making the Finals. That game is too far if we’re not going to play defensively.”

Rain or Shine’s chances of sending the series into a sudden-death Game 7 will depend on the production of explosive rookie Paul Lee, who was held down to just nine points in Game 5.