THE Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup kicks off today with a double-header set at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Setting things into motion in the season-ending and import-laden PBA tournament are the Phoenix Petroleum Fuel Masters and Kia Picanto, which will go to battle in the curtain-raiser at 4:15 p.m., to be followed by the debut joust between the Alaska Aces and NLEX Road Warriors at 7 p.m.
Middled in the first two conferences, the Fuel Masters are angling to better their performance in the about-to-start tournament, pinning their chances in large part on the return of explosive import Eugene Phelps.
Mr. Phelps, who has played 10 games for Phoenix in the past, has averaged 37.8 points, 14.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.2 blocks in 44 minutes on the floor.
His impressive showing to date in a Phoenix uniform has the Fuel Masters high on their chances, particularly star rookie Matthew Wright, who said he cannot wait to join forces with Mr. Phelps in taking their team to new heights in the Governors’ Cup.
“We will try to compete and stay relevant and I think we are in a good position with who I believe is the best import in the tournament in Eugene Phelps. With him around I think we can do a lot of good things on the court and get some success,” said Mr. Wright in an interview with BusinessWorld before leaving with Gilas Pilipinas for the 2017 William Jones Cup last week.
Mr. Wright is with the national team until July 23 and said he is hoping to return the soonest and rejoin Phoenix for their Governors’ Cup campaign.
BACK AS KIA
Also out make waves in the season-ending tournament are the Picanto, back as Kia in the PBA after carrying the Mahindra name for a while.
Spent most of the time in the bottom fourth of the field in the previous two conferences, Kia looks to make waves this around and is bringing in 28-year-old Markeith Cummings, who previously played for GlobalPort Batang Pier.
In his stint with GlobalPort, which he helped to a quarterfinal appearance, Mr. Cummings normed 28.7 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and 1.8 steals.
The Picanto are hoping that his all-round skills get to fit well with the development of their young guys like LA Revilla, Reden Celda, Eric Camson, Philip Paniamogan and Jackson Corpuz in making the Chris Gavina-coached team more competitive.
Meanwhile, the second game will feature two teams that had it rough in the previous tournament and will try to make up for it.
After a strong start to their campaign in the Commissioner’s Cup, the Aces went on very bad free fall from which they could not recover from and were booted out early.
They are bringing back LaDontae Henton as reinforcement and hope to capitalize on his PBA averages of 31.9 points, 11.8 rebounds and 1.3 blocks.
NLEX, for its part, attempts to wiggle out from its series of poor performances of late.
The Road Warriors have PBA-debuting Aaron Fuller as import. He is someone they hope could infuse added fight to their cause.
In the PBA Governors’ Cup, the 12-team field will play single-round robin eliminations with 11 games each, with the top eight advancing to the quarterfinals and the bottom four outright eliminated.
The quarterfinals will have the top four teams enjoying a twice-to-beat advantage over their bottom four opponents. The semifinals will be a best-of-five affair and the finals a best-of-seven.
Other imports set to play in the tournament are defending champion Barangay Ginebra’s Justin Brownlee, Blackwater’s Trevis Simpson, GlobalPort’s Jabril Trawik, Meralco’s Allen Durham, Rain or Shine’s J.D. Weatherspoon, grand slam-seeking San Miguel’s Wendell McKines, Star’s Cimmeon Bowers and TNT’s Michael Craig.