Weekends Preview and Prediction: STAR-PHX, SMB-MAH, BGSM-GBP

(c) PBA Media Bureau

Phoenix will try to make it a three wins streak at the expense of Star this Saturday. On Sunday, San Miguel will try to continue the agony of the Enforcers as Batang Pier also try to get their third W against Ginebra.

PHX-STAR

Star was fantastic in drubbing NLEX last Wednesday. Paul Lee finally appeared like a real star with his 20 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists. On the other hand, JC Intal flourished in his off-the-bench role with current statline of 19.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game.



Prediction
Phoenix was successful in getting the early lead in their two wins and that has been a problem for Star. On the other, Star has been pretty good in defending the bread and butter of Phoenix, three-pointers.

According to the numbers, Phoenix rebounds way better than Star and Star is not that successful in destroying the flow of their opponent. So, I am going with the numbers here and choose Phoenix.

MAH-SMB

This is one of those games that you get excited about to see what kind of domination Beermen will bring to the Floodbusters. Will you disagree with that?

Prediction
I don't even need to look on the numbers to see that San Miguel is the choice here. But, one interesting thing to see in this game is how will Leo Austria distribute the minutes. San Miguel will surely win this one.

GBP-BGSM

A lot of people have observed a different Terrence Romeo. He is still that cold-blooded scorer but he is really looking to find his teammates, this conference. Will it work against Ginebra who forced Rain or Shine to the lowest team scoring output this season?

Prediction
Both teams value the flow of their offense but Globalport has an advantage in rebounding. I am pretty sure coach Tim will preach about defense and that will be the same for coach Franz. The numbers are pointing to Globalport as the winner but I decided to go with Ginebra.

Coach Tim's squad is always improving during a conference and I am counting on them to take another step in this game with a more confident Japeth Aguilar. I can also see the possibility that Romeo could self-destruct and let his team down in this one.