ANTIPOLO - San Miguel will have a chance to get even with Meralco as it drew the defending champions as opponent in the coming PBA Philippine Cup playoffs.
The match up was made possible after the Beermen finished as the no. 1 seeded team heading to the quarterfinals that kicks off on Wednesday.
A runaway 126-91 win over also-ran Northport sealed the deal for a rematch of last year's Philippine Cup finals.
San Miguel actually ended up in a three-way tie at the top with Magnolia and NLEX, but earned the top spot by virtue of a better quotient.
Meralco finished at no. 8 with a 6-5 record and needs to beat the Beermen twice to advance.
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CJ Perez however, is not looking at the matchup as a grudge match.
"I think it's a different ballgame now. Yung nakaraan is past na yun," said Perez, who scored 11 of his game-high 24 points in the first quarter of the Beermen's 35-point blowout of the Batang Pier at the Ynares Center on Sunday.
Chris Newsome hit the game-winning shot with 1.3 seconds in Game 6 last season to give Meralco its first ever PBA championship, 80-78.
For Perez, there's really no ax to grind against the Bolts. It's just a chance to redeem themselves after failing to complete a two-conference sweep of Season 48. The Beermen earlier bagged the Commissioner's Cup championship.
"We need to redeem ourselves na yun nga, natalo kami sa finals. Pero I think sa effort namin and sa system nila coach, makakabawi kami," said the San Miguel guard.
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"We need to focus lang talaga against Meralco." (RG)
