Against San Miguel Beer, the Hotshots got a 32-point explosion from veteran guard Paul Lee to take a 100-90 victory. The result gave them an 8-3 slate at the end of the eliminations, and kept them in the running for a Top 2 finish.
"'Yung game na 'to is in our hands. Kumbaga, kontrolado namin. And then, the game of other teams, that's not in our control," Victolero said afterward. "So now, we just try to wait. Nagawa namin 'yung trabaho namin, nagawa namin 'yung kung ano dapat naming gawin." The Meralco Bolts currently sit at the second spot with still two games left in their schedule. They also own the head-to-head tiebreaker over Magnolia, should the two teams finish with identical records.
If the Hotshots don't get a twice-to-beat bonus, they will feature in a best-of-3 series in the quarterfinals.