WHICH team will be able to get back into the groove, check their slide and stay right there behind the lead pack?
That's the focal point as the Barangay Ginebra Kings and the Blackwater Bossing, in the rut with successive losses, square off Friday in the PBA Philippine Cup at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig.
The two teams are both at 3-3, with the Bossing dropping their last three games and the Kings losing three of their last four outings.
They're still right there within striking distance of the leaders but they have to arrest their skid now with time still on their side.
For they're on a crowded pack in the middle of the chart, tied with the TNT Tropang Giga from fifth to seventh. Magnolia is on almost equal footing at 2-2, then Meralco and Rain or Shine are ready to strike both at 3-4.
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And thus the Kings and the Bossing are duking it out in a virtual playoff face-off weeks before the playoffs.
Displeased on how his team was playing, coach Tim Cone let his deputies do the coaching in the second half of their 91-85 loss to the Terrafirma Dyip Sunday.
The question is how will the Kings respond as they kick off their campaign in the final half of the elims.
Christian Standhardinger and his teammates are way off from their form last season where they won one championship and chalked up a runner-up finish.
Cone admits they're not playing good basketball with their chemistry in shambles.
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They need to fix things and they hope to do it the soonest they can.
But then they face a tough obstacle in a Blackwater side which has been playing quality basketball even in its defeat.
Coach Jeff Cariaso and his troops repulsed Meralco (96-93), TNT (87-76) and Converge (90-78) before losing close games versus NLEX (97-103), Terrafirma (91-92) and Rain or Shine (103-110).(SB)
