When San Miguel plays Rain or Shine in an out-of-town match in the PBA Philippine Cup on Saturday, they will be at their best.

Sore eyes have kept players out of the lineup in recent games, but team manager Gee Abanilla says that won’t be the case on Saturday.

Due to eye pain, Juami Tiongson, Marcio Lassiter, and Jeron Teng missed SMB’s most recent match against Blackwater on May 25.

Early in the conference, San Miguel’s first case was Jericho Cruz, who missed the team’s opening two games.

Their return will increase San Miguel’s chances of defeating Rain or Shine on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Cagayan de Oro City. at the International Convention Center of Aquilino Pimintel.

With a 6-2 win-loss record, the Beermen are in third place and have a chance to win one of the four twice-to-beat incentives in the quarterfinals.

Before facing Rain or Shine, who are currently tied for fourth place with Barangay Ginebra at 6-3, the Beermen had won three straight games.

On the other hand, after Magnolia players Ian Sangalang, William, Navarro, and Paul Lee got death threats following the Hotshots’ 107-99 loss to the NLEX Road Warriors in the PBA Philippine Cup battle of the top teams, security was stepped up at Ninoy Aquino Stadium on Friday night.

On the Instagram pages of Sangalang, Navarro, and Lee, an apparent dummy user left comments threatening damage to the players and their families, claiming to have lost a significant sum of money wagering on the game.

At Ninoy Aquino Stadium, the players had to be removed out of the way as Magnolia management handled the PBA personnel situation.

Someone using the username daniel.wang27 put the threatening statements on the comments sections of old pictures that Sangalang, Navarro, and Lee had uploaded.

The incident was similar to the case of RJ Abarrientos, a rookie from Barangay Ginebra, who missed a four-point attempt in the final game of the Kings’ 108-104 loss to Meralco in Game 2 of their playoff series during the most recent Commissioner’s Cup and was also threatened by a netizen on his Instagram account along with his family. 

Coincidentally, Ninoy Aquino Stadium hosted that game as well.

Following Abarrientos’ Instagram story post, the PBA then coordinated the case with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). The investigation’s findings have not been disclosed by the league or the NBI.

With 21 points on 10 of 12 shooting, Sangalang was actually the second-leading scorer in the Hotshots’ second consecutive loss in a week.

However, he made five mistakes in all, including a poor pass to rookie Jerom Lastimosa with 1:34 remaining and Magnolia behind by 10 points (101-91).

Robert Bolick made a three-pointer at the other end as a result of the unforced blunder.

In just his second game with the Hotshots following his acquisition in a trade with Northport, Navarro finished with two points on one of seven shooting attempts but pulled down seven rebounds. Lee finished with 16 points and was 3-of-4 from four-point range.

Magnolia had been at the top of the standings from the beginning and now had a 7-3 record and third position following the setback.