ALTHOUGH Nueva Ecija is tipped as the favorite, neither Rice Vanguards coach Jerson Cabiltes nor Zamboanga Family Brand Sardines mentor Vic Icasiano does not expect a title sweep in the best-of-5 MPBL national finals kicking off this Friday at the Nueva Ecija Coliseum in Palayan City, Nueva Ecija.
“Zamboanga City is a well-coached and skilled squad so we will take it one game at a time. I am not looking for a sweep, but we aim to protect our homecourt advantage,” Cabiltes said yesterday during the Philippine Sportswriters Association forum at the PSC conference room inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.
“We hope to steal at least one game in Nueva and try to protect our home court when we get back to Zamboanga,” said Icasiano, whose charges are considered the underdogs against the top-seeded North Division champions.
MPBL Commissioner Kenneth Duremdes said the playoffs will be a 2-2-1 format, with the Rice Vanguards also hosting Game 2 at the Nueva Ecija Coliseum on Dec. 5 before the title series shifts to Games 3 and 4 on Dec. 9 and 12, respectively, at the Mayor Vitaliano D. Agan Coliseum in Zamboanga City.
Also gracing the public sports session backed by the Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., San Miguel Corp. and Milo were MPBL operations chief Emerson Oreta, MPBL executive Joe Ramos, Nueva Ecija skipper Jonathan Uyloan and Zamboanga counterpart Jerald Bautista.
Cabiltes stressed they would not take their opponents lightly, having learned their lessons when upstart San Juan took the opener of the Northern Division finals last Nov. 18 before the Rice Vanguards battled back to arrange a title showdown with Zamboanga.
“We learned our lessons from that loss,” recalled the Nueva Ecija
