WITH its confidence buoyed up by its 52-point win, Magnolia will be gunning for a 2-1 lead in their PBA Season 49 Governors' Cup best-of-five quarterfinal series as the Hotshots clash with the Rain or Shine (ROS) Elasto Painters on Sunday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.
The Hotshots made mincemeat of the Elasto Painters, 121-69, in Game 2 on Friday in Santa Rosa, Laguna.
Magnolia will try to carry that momentum in Game 3 scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.
As of press time, Rain or Shine import Aaron Fuller's status remains uncertain. The hulking ROS import played just 11 minutes, before leaving the game for good with still 30 seconds to go in the opening quarter after getting poked in his left eye by Magnolia big man Ian Sangalang.
Fuller was brought to a nearby hospital to have his left eye checked. He only scored four points and grabbed four rebounds in Game 2.
The possibility of playing all-Filipino in Game 3 is high, given the nature of Fuller's injury, who averaged 21 points and 17 rebounds during the eliminations, helping ROS secure the top seed in Group B heading to the quarterfinals.
Still, Magnolia coach Chito Victolero isn't counting out ROS, owing to its sleek running game and armada of scorers under multi-titled mentor Yeng Guiao.
"Rain or Shine is the best running team right now. And credit that to coach Yeng and the whole coaching staff, that they are the No. 1 team, who scores more than 100 points per game," shared Victolero.
The Elasto Painters have a number of young gunners like Adrian Nocum, Jhonard Clarito, Gian Mamuyac, and even rookies Felix Lemetti and Caelan Tiongson, who can all score in bunches on any given day.
Jabari Bird, who came in to replace the ineffective Rayvonte Rice, made a solid PBA debut after scoring 28 points and grabbing 13 rebounds for the Hotshots in Game 2.
Meanwhile, NLEX tries to build on its narrow 93-90 win last Friday when it clashes with TNT in Game 3 starting at 5 p.m.
Import DeQuan Jones again had a solid scoring night, finishing with 38 points, including 10 in the payoff quarter to help the Road Warriors equalize their own best-of-five quarterfinal series at one win apiece.
NLEX's defense was also splendid in Game 2 after holding TNT's usually efficient Rondae Hollis-Jefferson to just 22 points on 5-of-18 shooting.
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