PBA KO Phase Predictions: RoS Bracket

Business is about to pick-up in the on-going PBA Philippine Cup as we bid newcomers Kia Sorento and winless Blackwater Elite adieu until next conference and see who's the cream of the crop. As you may or may not know, the top two seeds: San Miguel Beermen and Rain or Shine Elastopainters, get a bye until the later round. The rest of the field will have to duke it out, with the lower seeded teams needing to win twice over the higher seeded ones if they would like to advance.

The Rock needs to go to TNT. Now.
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

We're dividing the brackets into two, based on who they will eventually face in the Quarters: The RoS and SMB brackets.

3 Alaska Aces (twice-to-beat) vs 10 NLEX Road Warriors 
The Aces missed out on an opportunity of landing in the top two spots by a hairline, but this match-up with the NLEX should be a quick and easy one considering both rosters. The Warriors have a formidable frontline with Asi Taulava and a suddenly revived Enrico Villanueva but they, unfortunately, do not play with the same intensity as that of Calvin Abueva who is leading the league in rebounding despite being the same size as NLEX star scorer Mac Cardona. If Eric Menk continues with his inspired, "tour de force" play and Sonny Thoss comes back 100% healthy, then it's all over for the Warriors who still need to address some holes on the roster.


For the Aces to win, they need only to keep playing at their uptempo, intense pace and maintain their discipline when forced to play half court. Coach Alex Compton has done a remarkable job in finding a balance with the old Triangle Offense and his preferred run-and-gun style. The frontline might cancel each other out, so the game/s will be decided by the guards-- unfortunately for NLEX they only have Cardona to rely on for firepower while the Aces have a multitude of scorers in JVee Casio, Cyrus Baguio, RJ Jazul and Dondon Hontiveros (who is also, still, a lock down defender who would probably get Cardona as his assignment).

For the Warriors, they need to go to their strength: Taulava. He needs to bait Abueva into helping and fouling which should be relatively easy when you look at Abueva's "always at 100% motor." They cannot run with the Aces, because that's almost like handing your would-be murderer a battle axe, so they need to

Key to the series: Calvin Abueva's MVP case
Prediction: Aces in 1

Nary a whimper from El Granada so far
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

6 Meralco Bolts (twice-to-beat) vs 7 Purefoods Star Hotshots
The defending, Grand Slam champions are going to be tested against the blue collar Bolts in this one. But don't expect James Yap, Marc Pingris and PJ Simon to simply roll over for Gary David, Jarred Dillinger and Cliff Hodge just yet. While the superstar match-up will surely grab the headlines, we feel that there's still a dimension to the Hotshots that the Bolts will not be able to match: the bench. Either David and Dillinger wake up from their Post Gilas Partum Depression phase and combine for 40+ a night, or Mark Barocca is going to prove to every one why he is, by far, the best two-way point guard in the league today while playing within the confines of the Triangle Offense.

For the Bolts to win, they will need David and Dillinger to be both on point (which they, surprisingly, haven't been this conference) while getting the same hard-working numbers from Hodge and new recruit Sean Anthony. Now, while people are quick to remind us of Anthony's miracle run last season versus the Hotshots while playing for Air21-- we'd like to dismiss that as nothing but a fluke. Why? How good has Anthony been for the Bolts this season where minutes at the forward position are readily available? Yeah, thought so.

For the Hotshots to win, they need only two things: stay healthy and execute. Yes, they've won how many titles at this point and should be dog-tired, but bear in mind that head coach Tim Cone has successfully been able to develop his second unit to the point that we'd say his 2nd team could lock down his 1st team should they play a real PBA game (with no superstar calls of course).

Key to the series: Mark Barroca vs dead legs of Mike Cortez and some scrubs
Prediction: Purefoods in 2