Magnolia eyes to extend winning run against Meralco

SPOTLESS Magnolia intends to keep the status quo in the PBA Philippine Cup while Meralco seeks to establish order in its blow-hot, blow-cold title-retention campaign.

With this, the Hotshots (5-0) and the Bolts (3-4) duke it out in a marquee PBA Philippine Cup showdown on Wednesday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

For the Hotshots, the 7:30 p.m. matchup versus an opponent who had lost four of its last five games after a 2-0 start presents a great opportunity to extend their run as they hit the halfway point of the eliminations.

“We’re unbeaten right now. We want to keep it that way,” said Magnolia ace Zav Lucero. “So we have to prepare the right way and we have to go into it with the right mindset. Any team can beat us on any given day and we know that. So we just have to play the right way and come prepared and we should be fine.”

Athletic wingman Mr. Lucero has been playing solid as he leads Magnolia’s bench mob in helping the Hotshots get it done so far.

Coach Chito Victolero, who is deploying 12 to 13 players each night to preserve the legs of the core players for the long haul.

“In the stretch or in the latter part of the conference it might help us have a fresh legs. We require pace in our defense and offense so rotation is very important with the system,” he added.

The Hotshots may have to shake off rust coming off a 10-day break since their 127-94 demolition of Terrafirma.

The Bolts, on the other hand, just got through a tough contest last Sunday against resurgent TNT that they lost, 101-84.

Meanwhile, NLEX (4-1) looks to stay the second-hottest team of the All-Filipino with five straight wins as it battles the freefalling Dyip (1-5) in the 5 p.m. curtain raiser.

Their situations are poles apart but the Road Warriors aren’t taking chances.

NLEX mentor Jong Uichico said of the Dyip, who are on a five-game slide. “That’s going to be our mindset. It’s never been their (Dyip’s) mindset; they always play hard.” — Olmin Leyba