THE PBA Season 48 Commissioner's Cup best-of-seven title series will be a battle between best defensive team Magnolia Chicken Timplados and tournament top offensive squad San Miguel Beer.
Magnolia, a team hungry for a championship since it last reached the PBA's "Mount Olympus" during the 2018 Governors' Cup, is now four wins away from achieving its goal.
The Hotshots, though, will have their defensive mettle put to serious test against a stacked-up Beermen side, which only got stronger after tapping the services of American import Bennie Boatwright in lieu of Ivan Aska.
Game 1 of the race-to-four championship series begins on Friday, 7:30 p.m. at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
With only one day to prepare after hurdling past a tough Phoenix side 89-79 in a grind-out Game 4 semis win on Wednesday, Magnolia will have to play with every ounce of its strength in the Finals opening match against a well-rested San Miguel team.
The Hotshots reached the Finals after holding the Fuel Masters to just 83 points.
The Beermen, oozing with talent, mowed down the Barangay Ginebra Kings en route to averaging 97.3 points, making them the top offensive squad in the playoffs.
Magnolia coach Chito Victolero said the Hotshots have their hands full in containing San Miguel, which coach Jorge Gallent believes isn't merely limited to a "death 5," referring to the Beermen's top five players.
Instead, Gallent believes they've got "death 15," in describing the team's depth in talent.
"We will try to think of what we need to do with this powerhouse team because as what coach Jorge has said, 'death 15'. (Imagine) we're already struggling playing their 'death 5,' how much more 'death 15?" said Victolero.
San Miguel reached the Finals after scoring a three-game sweep of Barangay Ginebra in the semis, ending the league's top crowd-drawer's back-to-back championship aspirations in the process.
Boatwright averaged 29 points and five three-point shots made in the semifinal series against Ginebra. He also averaged 11.33 rebounds.
His deadly outside shooting allows seven-time league Most Valuable Player (MVP) June Mar Fajardo to dominate the paint as evidenced by his semis averages of 15.33 points, 11 rebounds and 3.67 blocks.
Amazingly, the Beermen have won their last seven games or since Boatwright made his debut on Christmas Day against the Phoenix Fuel Masters.
San Miguel's depth is very evident due to the presence of CJ Perez, Marcio Lassiter, Chris Ross, Jericho Cruz, Terrence Romeo, Jeron Teng and Don Trollano, whom the team acquired midway in the eliminations via a three-team trade.
Victolero, though, has a slew of veteran players led by Mark Barroca, Jio Jalalon, Paul Lee, Calvin Abueva, Ian Sangalang, James Laput, Abu Tratter and do-it-all import Tyler Bey to counter the Beermen's arsenal.
The Hotshots are also motivated to avenge their two previous Finals defeats against the Beermen, both of which happened during the Philippine Cup in 2018 and 2019.