Converge semifinals bid one win from history
Converge's semifinals bid is now a single win from completion. The FiberXers beat Rain or Shine 105-98 to take a 2-1 lead in their best-of-five PBA Season 50 Governors' Cup quarterfinal series.
The franchise has never reached a PBA semifinal. A second win in the series would end that wait and send Converge through for the first time.
Juan Gomez de Liaño said the team is treating the position as unfinished business rather than a cushion.
"I always come out with a chip on my shoulder so I think us being up 2-1 now, we're not gonna settle for less," he said.
He added that the group's belief comes from what it has shown as a unit, not from the series score alone.
"We know the capabilities of our team, our potential as one unit. We're just hoping we can do the right things come Game 4."
A quarterfinal record that keeps repeating
Converge's playoff history explains the caution. In the Season 50 Philippine Cup, the FiberXers finished fourth in the eliminations to earn a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals, then lost both games to Barangay Ginebra.
The second of those defeats was a 99-98 overtime loss, decided by a Stephen Holt game-winning three-pointer.
Two other quarterfinal campaigns followed a similar shape. In the 2022-2023 Commissioner's Cup, the fourth-seeded FiberXers were swept by San Miguel. In the 2024 Governors' Cup quarterfinals, they lost a five-game series to the same opponent.
In each of those three runs Converge entered as the higher seed and did not advance. That record is the backdrop to a series it now leads.
Delta Pineda warns against complacency
Head coach Delta Pineda framed the Game 3 result partly as a matter of Rain or Shine's shooting rather than his own team's control.
"No, maybe we just got lucky. We can attribute it to prayers, and their outside shots simply weren't falling," he said.
He said preparation would not change simply because Converge is ahead.
"So we still need to prepare because the series isn't over yet. We expect Rain or Shine to come back stronger in the next game."
Analysis: what Game 4 will test
Analysis. The central question is less about Converge's offense than about how the team handles a game it is expected to win — the exact situation that undid it in the Season 50 Philippine Cup.
Pineda's remarks suggest Converge expects Rain or Shine's outside shooting to improve, which would change the shape of the game and reduce the margin for the kind of lapses that have ended past campaigns.
A loss would force a deciding game and return the pressure to a franchise with recent experience of exactly that outcome.
The original report on Converge's quarterfinal series appeared on gmanetwork.com.
