Games today:
Araneta Coliseum
7:45 p.m.- B-Meg vs. Talk ‘N Text
5:30 p.m.- Barako Bull vs. Shopinas.com
After taking down a heavyweight, the Barako Bull Energy get an easy opponent in their bid to snatch a third straight win as they face the winless Shopinas.com Clickers in today’s man game of the 37th PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.
Barako Bull is fresh from an impressive 100-86 victory against the defending champion Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters, tallying a second straight win after starting the tournament with an 83-95 loss to the unbeaten Petron Blaze Boosters.
Willie Miller was superb in the Energy’s conquest of the Texters as the two-time MVP erupted for game-high 27 points on a 12-for-17 shooting from the field.
Barako Bull has also been getting big numbers from rookie Dylan Ababou, who scored 20 points in that huge win. The 10th pick in the Rookie Draft also scored 20 points in Barako Bull’s 88-75 trampling of the Barangay Ginebra Kings the last time out.
Barako Bull is expected to have an easy time against the Clickers, a team composed of fading journeymen and unheralded rookies.
Shopinas.com joins the also struggling Alaska Aces at the bottom of the standings with 0-3 (win-loss) cards.
In the first game, the Texters look to bounce back from that loss to the Barako Bull against the on-and-off B-Meg Llamados.
That loss to Barako Bull prevented the Texters from earning a share of the lead and instead fell into a three-way tie at third place with the Energy and the Powerade Tigers. Petron leads the standings with a 3-0 record followed by the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, who are 3-1. EDITORIAL ASSISTANT CALVIN D. CORDOVA