SMB on the other is struggling to be in the top 4, if they can't land in the twice to beat advantage spot, their quest for the grand slam is over for now.
Don't say that, I will fully disagree with you because SMB has been in this situation many times and yet they still win in the end.
They can beat a team with their good line up, even if they have to beat them twice, this is why I like to beat on SMB when they really need to win as I know they will give everything they have to win, and with their current local line up now and their beast import, they can certainly win as long as they have the chemistry and remain calm when playing.
Lol, yeah we've seen them in scary situations but it should have not that way always. Even coaches in the PBA agree that SMB is vulnerable during playoffs and they became a scary team during a best of 5/7 game series. BTW, they still have a chance to land to the top 4 if the Bolts will loss two games and SMB winning all their remainder games.
That's unlikely to happen, with the way the bolts are showing dominating the SMB, there's no reason they will loss against a weaker teams in the PBA.
The remaining games of the bolts are against the following and I like to classify the teams based IMO>
Ginebra SMB - strong
Comumbyain DYIP - average
Northport - average
Rain or shine - weak
If they will loss against the Ginebra SMB and Northport , they might be in the lower position.
SMB was just having an off night so let us not conclude that even if they will not have the advantage of twice to beat, they will be eliminated.
Comes playoff time, Fajardo will be activated, this "kraken" will surely become beast again in the inside but their import needs to learn how to share the ball so it will give rhythm to the local and they will eventually contribute to win, once they figure that out, they can beat a team twice in a row.