Two more teams to go home in PBA knockout Friday

MANILA, Philippines – Count on Burger King and Rain or Shine among those which will be watching with great interest when four teams dispute on Friday night the two remaining quarterfinal spots in the Motolite-PBA Fiesta Cup at the Araneta Coliseum. It’s Talk ‘N Text versus Purefoods and Sta. Lucia against Coca-Cola for the right to meet the Elasto Painters and Titans in the best-of-three second round playoffs of the season-ending meet. Whoever survives in the Giants-Tropang Texters sudden death will have to contend with the Elasto Painters in the next round, while the winner in the Tigers-Realtors match up gets to face the Titans. “Last chance for us to take the last bus," admitted Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio. “Our mind-set is to focus on defense against an offensive superpower in Talk ‘N Text. We are determined to keep on playing and compete for survival until the final buzzer." One thing going for the Giants is their perfect record against the Tropang Texters this season. “Cautiously optimistic," said Talk ‘N Text mentor Chot Reyes about his team's losing record against their formidable opponent.“Anything can happen in a KO game." Sta. Lucia, on the other hand, will be one man down when it faces the Tigers in the opener. Kelly Williams, the reigning most valuable player, hasn’t been given the go signal to play after being diagnosed with a rare bleeding disorder during the All-Stars break. Williams is being treated with steroids. “It will be an uphill climb for us since we will be playing without Kelly," said SLR coach Boyet Fernandez. “But we are ready for the game. As long as we do what we do best – defense – we are positive of our chances." Coca-Cola nearly missed making the No. 8 spot. It had to go through a knockout game against Alaska and. And while coach Kenneth Duremdes is aware that the Realtors will be without main man Williams, he still fears Sta. Lucia because of its toughness. “They’re still a dangerous team even without Williams," said Duremdes. “The thing here is that we may have some false sense of security because of his absence. Dapat mawala sa isip namin ‘yun." San Miguel and defending champion Ginebra have already advanced to the semis. – GMANews.TV