Defending champion San Miguel Beermen find themselves in the unfamiliar role of underdog when they open the 45th Philippine Basketball Association season in the lone game at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on March 8.
The Beermen will be playing without five-time (2014-2018) PBA Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo who will likely miss the entire conference because of a leg injury.
The Beermen face the Magnolia Hotshots Pambansang Manok at 7:30 p.m. which will follow the annual Leo Awards where Fajardo is expected to win a sixth consecutive MVP title.
Without the dominant Fajardo PBA teams have feasted on the vulnerable Beermen in a pre-season mini-tournament where SMB lost all its games.
NLEX Road Warriors defeated San Miguel, 103-97. Phoenix Pulse Fuel Masters trounced the Beermen, 108-90. The Alaska Aces beat SMB, 81-79.
Meanwhile, PBA Governors’ Cup champion Barangay Ginebra, regarded as the team to beat this conference, starts its PBA Philippine Cup bid on the road when it battles Blackwater Elite in Balanga, Bataan on March 14.
The league’s most popular ballclub also enters the new season without its own big man Greg Slaughter who will sit out for personal reasons.
Slaughter however is hardly at the level of Fajardo with the Gin Kings winning the past Governors’ Cup largely through the heroics of Japeth Aguilar and import Justin Brownlee.
The PBA continues its games on March 11 with TNT KaTropa facing Phoenix 4:30 p.m. and the NorthPort Batang Pier taking on the Road Warriors 7 p.m. also at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Three other teams see action on March 13 at the Araneta Coliseum. The Alaska Aces battle the Columbian Dyip at 4:30 p.m. while the Beermen return to the floor against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters at 7 p.m.
