The Texters, with their formidable lineup, are favored against the Elasto Painters, a lesser fancied team built around young stalwarts Gabe Norwood, Sol Mercado and JayR Reyes.
The two teams clash at 5 p.m. with the Texters riding the momentum of convincing victories over the Derby Ace Llamados, the San Miguel Beermen and the Meralco Bolts B-Boys.
Talk n Text, among those considered as pre-season favorites, won its first three games by an average margin of 11 points.
“We are up against a team playing great. We have to match their intensity and stop their running game,” said Rain or Shine coach Caloy Garcia.
“Rain or Shine is always dangerous. We need to limit Sol Mercado’s and Gabe Norwood’s scoring opportunities if we’re to beat them,” said Talk n Text coach Chot Reyes.
Rain or Shine is tied with Air21, Barako Bull, Barangay Ginebra and Meralco at 1-2, bowing to powerhouse teams San Miguel and Alaska Milk and winning over the Express.
Meanwhile, Derby Ace and Meralco collide in an interesting matchup at 7:30 p.m.
The lone team left without a win in the first two weeks of the tourney, Derby Ace hopes to finally break into the win-column against a team handled by its former coach.
“We have to play aggressive for 48 minutes and minimize the points of their big men,” said Jorge Gallent, a multi-titled coach in the PBL who took over from Gregorio.
Gallent and Gregorio stressed their showdown is nothing personal.
“They will be treated the same way I treat the other games. My goal is always to compete and to win regardless of the opponents. They need to win; we need to win. That’s the motivation and nothing else,” said Gregorio.
While Meralco is still trying to build camaraderie and cohesion, Derby Ace is learning to play minus injured key big men Kerby Raymundo, Marc Pingris and Rafi Reavis.
“The more games we play, the better for us because we are still learning to play together. We’ve been working very hard to fast track the whole process,” said Gregorio
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