The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup will open with a lot of twists tonight, November 27, at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig.
Terrafirma and Converge will open the curtain at the 5:00 PM encounter.
The Dyip will be parading Terrence Romeo and Vic Manuel whom they recently acquired via trade with San Miguel Beermen in exchange for Juami Tiongson and Andreas Cahilig.
They will be joined by Stanley Pringle, Kevin Ferrer, Aldrech Ramos, Mark Nonoy, Keith Zaldivar, Mark Sangalang, Tommy Olivario, CJ Catapusan, Aljun Melencio, Paolo Hernandez, Didat Hanapi, Kemark Carino, Brent Paraiso, and import Ryan Earl Richards.
Terrafirma’s center Christian Standhardinger, on the other hand, is relegated to the injured/reserve list.
The Dyip will also parade a new head coach in Raymond Tiongco.
Meanwhile, the FiberXers will also have new weapons that coach Franco Atienza can utilize.
Converge taps the services of former NBA player Cheick Diallo to be their reinforcement in mid-season conference, while also securing the sweet-shooting guard Jordan Heading, who was a former top overall pick in the special Gilas draft.
They will be joining the Justin Arana and Alec Stockton duo, together with veteran Alex Cabagnot, Kevin Racal, Inand Fornilos, Kamron Vigan-Fleming, Bryan Andrade, Mike Nieto, Deschon Winston, Paolo Javillonar, Jeo Ambohot, JL Delos Santos, Bryan Santos, and King Caralipio. Patrick Maagdenberg is the one relegated to the injured/reserve list.
In the main event, Phoenix will face the guest team Hong Kong Eastern at 7:30 PM.
The Fuel Masters will still rely on their main Jason Perkins together with their 6-foot-9, 245-pound import Donovan Smith.
They will be supported by the veteran backcourt duo of RR Garcia and RJ Jazul, with Larry Muyang, Sean Manganti, Raul Soyud, Ato Ular, Jayjay Alejandro, Kai Ballungay, Matthew Daves, Raffy Verano, Simon Camacho, Tyler Tio, Kenneth Tuffin, and Ricci Rivero.
Coach Jamike Jarin will still be the one to call the shots for Phoenix, while Kent Salado is the one relegated to the injured/reserve list of the Fuel Masters line-up.
On the other hand, the Long Lions will bring familiar faces in Hayden Blankley, Kobey Lam, and Glen Yang who last played for Bay Area Dragons in last year’s edition of the Commissioner’s Cup.
Former SMB import Cameron Clark will be reinforcing the Hong Kong squad that rely on the head coaching of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national Mensur Bajramovic.
The Long Lions will also bring new blood to play in the first play-for-pay league in Asia. They will be Ramon Cao, Shiu Wah Leung, Tsz Yung Chu, Siu Wing Chan, Yin Lung Cheung, Yuet Yeung Pok, Hao Zhu, Adam Xu, Ka Hin Marco Leung, Muhammad Sulaiman Sheik, and Steven Serge Marie Guinchard.
It will be important for the teams to win the first match of the conference as the format will be back to a single-round eliminations and the top teams will have a twice-to-beat advantage over the lower teams that they will face in the quarter final round.
