Alaska tries to avoid slow start

Games today:

Araneta Coliseum

4:15 p.m.- Rain or Shine vs. Alaska

6:30 p.m.- Petron vs. Brgy. Ginebra

A string of losses marked the Alaska Aces’ start in the previous conference. The team will try to avoid trekking the same path as they look to recover from an opening day debacle and face the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters today in the 37th PBA Fiesta Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

After a 0-6 (win-loss) start last season, the Aces are again into a faulty start this conference when they bowed to the Barako Bull Energy, 78-98, last Friday.

Alaska had no answer to the strong showing of the Energy locals as import Adam Parada heavily carried the Aces’ offensive attack.

Parada, a former Red Bull import, scored 15 points and grabbed 16 rebounds. Cyrus Baguio and Mac Baracael were the only Alaska locals to score in double figures while the Energy had four led by Willie Miller’s game-high 25 points.

Avoiding a second straight defeat will be crucial for the Aces since the 10 competing teams will only be playing nine games in the elimination round with only six squads advancing to the playoffs.

Leading the Painters’ bid to foil Aces is import Duke Crews, a 6-foot-8 cager who averaged 5.4 points and 4.0 rebounds in the NCAA.

The main game will pit sister teams Petron Blaze Boosters and the Barangay Ginebra Kings.

During the conference break, Petron tried to tweak its roster by agreeing to send Noy Baclao and Rey Guevarra to the Powerade Tigers in favor of Marcio Lassiter. The deal was sent to the PBA Commissioner’s Office for approval.

The Boosters will parade 6-foot-11 omport Nicholas Ryan Fazekas, who once played for the Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Clippers in the NBA.

Ginebra will have Chris Alexander, the same import that led the Kings to the championship in the 2007-08 season where teams were also allowed to field in imports of unlimited height.