“This is a tough week for us,” said Cone after their scrambling 87-76 repeat victory against Barako Bull.

By his appraisal, the result of their next two games would most likely determine their position in the playoffs.

The Aces have lost five of their last seven games largely because they couldn’t get things done properly in the fourth quarter.

Cone is keeping his fingers crossed the victory against Barako Bull will set the tone for this week. “We’ll see if we can follow this up,” he said.

Alaska is due for a rematch against B-Meg Derby Ace on Wednesday and Rain or Shine on Sunday.

Cone acknowledges that Derby Ace has raised its game recently and anticipates a battle in their 7:30 p.m. date at the Araneta Coliseum.

“We’re tied in the standings so this head-to-head is crucial for both teams,” Cone said.

“We’re not doing the little things that would make us successful in the fourth quarter. We should make sure we correct that this time around,” Cone said. Alaska beat Derby Ace, 92-87, in their first meeting on October 13.

Derby Ace power forward Mark Pingris is listed as doubtful starter for the game on the advice of his attending physician, who insists the forward needs to rest for another week.

The latest health bulletin on Pingris was a letdown for Derby Ace coach George Gallent although he is optimistic reserve guards PJ Simon and Jonas Villanueva, forward Gerwin Gaco and sophomore center Rico Maierhofer will be up to the task, reason the Llamados are riding high on a four-game winning streak.

“Alaska is a very disciplined team and has the best 1-2 guards in the league. So we will have to contain them and distract their offense,” Gallent said.

Alaska and Derby Ace are tied for fourth with 5-5 win-loss records. They are a couple of games behind leader San Miguel Beer (9-2), Barangay Ginebra (7-3) and Talk ’N Text (6-3) but Cone said they are not yet conceding anything.

“But I don’t see these teams faltering at this point and falter big time. But hopefully we could get some momentum going into the quarterfinals and you do that by winning,” Cone said.

The rematch between the Meralco Bolts and the Powerade Tigers at 5 o’clock will also be played in playoff-like atmosphere.

With a 4-5 record, the Bolts are aiming to improve on their position to avoid a quarterfinal pairing with either the No. 1 or No. 2 teams of the elimination round. The top two teams after the eliminations earn a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals.

Meralco is tied with Rain or Shine for sixth place.

“We are constantly moving up the ladder. This is where we want to be at this stage of the conference. With five game left, our goals is gradually improve and win as many games as possible,” said Meralco coach Ryan Gregorio.

Powerade demolished Meralco, 81-66, in their first meeting on October 30 but the Tigers have lost their next four games after that. With a 3-7 mark, the ninth placed Tigers badly need a victory to stay in contention for a quarterfinal spot.

“We are going to take our chances. We will fight to survive this conference,” said Powerade coach Bo Perasol.

Gregorio said they are treating their rematch against Powerade like a playoff game.

“We have prepared hard to limit the scoring option of Gary David. Hopefully we will be successful,” said Gregorio.

David scored 31 points to power the Tigers to victory in their meeting against Meralco. He currently leads the league in scoring with an average 23 points per game.

Dave Corros, Business Mirror