TERRAFIRMA and NLEX face off on Sunday as both teams gun for a 2-0 start in the PBA Season 48 Philippine Cup action at the Araneta Coliseum.
The Dyip and the Road Warriors collide at 3 p.m.
With top rookie pick Stephen Holt and Juami Tiongson on the firing end, the Dyip kicked off their All-Filipino campaign with a 107-99 triumph against the Converge FiberXers.
Holts delivered all-around numbers of 27 points, 10 rebounds, five steals and four assists, while Tiongson exploded for 30 as the duo led Terrafirma to the big win.
Terrafirma coach John Cardel said they can't be too high on the conference-opening win.
"We started last conference with two wins," Cardel said, before continuing that the team went downhill from there, resulting to another sorry campaign after a promising start.
"It's only one game, we just have to continue the hard work," he added, whose team ended the import-spiced conference with a 2-9 record.
Cardel is wary of the competition in the league where PBA coaches are capable of breaking down their opponents' strength and finding a way to capitalize on their weakness.
"Our defense, we have to polish it because there are a lot of good coaches who will scout us, so we need to be ready for that," he stressed.
Up against NLEX, Terrafirma expects a tough ride considering the charges of coach Frankie Lim are looking to make up for their own poor Commissioner's Cup showing.
"I think they (Road Warriors) understand the importance of winning games [this early]. We have to learn to win games, especially now we are undersized because most of the time we were playing small ball," shared Lim, whose team opened the conference with a nail-biting 107-100 overtime win against NorthPort last Friday.
NLEX will have Robert Bolick again at the forefront, along with mainstays Tony Semerad, Sean Anthony and Enoch Valdez.
Meanwhile, NorthPort looks to bounce back from that loss to NLEX when it takes on Converge at 6:15 p.m.
The Batang Pier hold a sizable edge in manpower with the return of wingman Will Navarro, following a yearlong absence since recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).
The former Ateneo forward registered 12 points and 13 rebounds in his return to the Batang Pier.
Another big addition for NorthPort in this conference is first-round rookie pick Zav Lucero, who had a solid PBA debut of 13 points, eight rebounds and four blocks after also recovering from an ACL injury he sustained during his final game with the University of the Philippines in December 2022.
Together with high-scoring Arvin Tolentino, the Batang Pier will be out to secure their first win at the expense of the FiberXers.
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