AUTOMATIC Top Four spot is at stake for the Magnolia Hotshots, and they're expected to exert the best that they can to get it.
But the TNT Tropang 5G will on the other side of the floor, brimming with determination as well to play like hell in a bid to still get into Top Four picture.
And it's only expected to be a knife-edge battle as the Hotshots and the Tropang 5G duke it out in a playoff like showdown in the penultimate play date of the PBA Philippine Cup eliminations Friday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.
The Hotshots gain outright Top Four finish with a win in the 7:30 p.m. setto.
Coach Chot Reyes' troops, however, would not be willing to give that. They would fight for it and, if successful, would create complications that would only be resolved at the end of the elims on Sunday.
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The top eight have long been determined. However, NLEX (8-3), San Miguel Beer (7-3), Magnolia (7-3), Barangay Ginebra (7-3), Converge (7-4), Rain or Shine (6-4) and TNT (6-4) are the leading seven still in a wild and wooly fight for final placings.
With much bearing in the rumble are the closing games Sunday over at the Ynares Sports Center in Antipolo pitting San Miguel versus NorthPort and Rain or Shine opposite Ginebra.
The Top Four is automatically sealed with victories by the Beermen, the Hotshots and the Gin Kings in their respective matches.
Other results would forge ties to be resolved by quotient tiebreaks in determining playoff matchups - No. 1 versus No. 8, No. 2 versus No. 7, No. 3 versus No. 6 and No. 4 versus No. 5.
The Hotshots were on a great run, looking poised for an easy ride to the top until three losses in their last four outings.
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TNT had its own crucial slip that ended its hot run in a 78-97 blowout loss to Ginebra. The Tropang 5G had won six straight matches before being halted by the Kings.(SB)
