The Meralco Bolts, led by Tony Bishop, became the first team to reach the best-of-five semifinals of the 46th Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup.
The 32-year-old Bishop powered the twice-to-beat Bolts to a 100-85 smothering of the San Miguel Beermen in their quarterfinal playoffs after scoring 32 points, spiked by four triples.
The Bolts, who took charge by as much as 21 points, will now wait for the outcome of the quarterfinal clash between the top-seeded Magnolia Hotshots and the Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters.
Chris Newsome added 22 points for the Bolts, who need to sweep three of their five-game assignment to reach the finals.The Beermen, behind import Shabazz Muhammad with 24 points, dropped out of contention with a 6-7 slate, including their setback to the Bolts in quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, eyeing to prevent Limitless App from imposing its dominance again in the PBA 3×3 Lakas Ng Tatlo, teams were quick to tweak their respective rosters in time for Leg 4 of Conference 2 Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Leg 1 champion TNT, top contenders Barangay Ginebra and Platinum Karaoke, and even Terrafirma 3×3 have made corresponding lineup changes in an attempt to thwart the Appmasters’ bid for a back-to-back leg title.
The Tropang Giga, who lost to Limitless in a thrilling Leg 3 finals last week, brought back big man Mark Acuno for Chris Javier, while the Kings are returning with top gunner Encho Serrano and Jayson David after missing a podium finish in the last leg.
Platinum meanwhile, reactivated Ryan Monteclaro for big man JR Alabanza, while the Dyip are parading team manager and former San Miguel Beer player Ronald Tubid for Jebb Bulawan.
Limitless opens its campaign against guest team Master Sardines at 10:05 a.m. in one of 16 games featured in Day 1 of Pool play.
The Appmasters just won their third leg championship overall, counting the two they won in the First Conference, where the team also emerged as the first ever grand champion.
The quartet of Brandon Rosser, Jorey Napoles, Reymar Caduyac, and Marvin Hayes, are bracketed in Pool A along with Master Sardines, Leg 2 winner San Miguel, NorthPort, and CAVITEX.
The Beermen also made a roster change with the return of veterans Ken Bono and Louie Vigil for James Mangahas and Bacon Austria, the Batang Pier tapped Louie Brill and Michael Calisaan for LA Revilla and Jeepy Faundo, the Braves are reunited with Ernest Efren Reyes for Larry Fonacier, and Master Sardines replaced Michole Sorela and Jefferson Comia with Cyrus Tabi and Ramon Mabayo.
TNT leads Pool B with Sista Super Sealers, Pioneer Pro Tibay, and Platinum Karaoke, while Leg 3 third placer Meralco is joined by Terrafirma, Barangay Ginebra, and Purefoods in Pool C.
Master Sardines and NorthPort opens hostilities at 8 a.m. followed by CAVITEX-San Miguel (8:25 a.m.), Sista-Pioneer (8:50 a.m.), Terrafirma-Barangay Ginebra (9:15 a.m.), NorthPort-San Miguel (9:40 a.m.), and Limitless-Master Sardines.
TNT takes on Platinum (10:30 a.m.), and then Meralco-Terrafirma (10:55 a.m.), NorthPort-Limitless (11:20 a.m.), Master-CAVITEX (11:45 a.m.), TNT-Sista (12:10 p.m.), Purefoods-Ginebra (12:35 p.m.), San Miguel-Limitless (1 p.m.), CAVITEX-NorthPort (1:25 p.m.), Platinum-Pioneer (1:50 p.m.), and Meralco-Purefoods (2:15 p.m.).
Six more games will be played Sunday morning to conclude the Pool play, after which the knockout stage follows featuring the eight surviving teams.
Leg champion will receive P100,000, runner-up P50,000, and third placer P30,000.