SAN Miguel Beer and Barangay Ginebra, two of the league’s most popular teams, take the first of two opportunities to the semis when they take on lower-ranked opponents — Converge FiberX and NLEX — at the start of the quarterfinal round in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Gametime starts at 4:30 p.m. with both the Beermen and the Kings favored to gain quick passage to the next round.

By virtue of finishing as the No. 2 team with a 9-2 win-loss record, San Miguel needs only to win over Converge once to advance to the semis outright.

Converge, which wound up seventh overall with a 6-5 slate, must win two games in a row to make it to the semis via the backdoor.

Although San Miguel finished the elimination round with back-to-back victories, head coach Jorge Gallent said his players must “be good in our individual defense, to have pride in it” when they return to the floor against Converge.

Gallent also noted that the the FiberXers defeated the Beermen, 107-103, in their lone meeting last Feb. 11.

Converge is also bringing in a new import in Tom Vodanovich, who replaced Jamaal Franklin following the latter’s falling-out with coach Aldin Ayo.

Reports said Vodanovich is a 28-year-old member of the New Zealand national team who has honed his game in both James Madison U in the US NCAA and the pro leagues in both his native country and Australia.

Vodanovich has been described by scouts as “a solid all-around player” and his 20-point performance in the Tall Blacks’ 88-63 win over Gilas Pilipinas in a FIBA World Cup Asian qualifier in February of last year at the same Big Dome seem to bear this out.

As the third seed, the 8-3 Ginebra also has a shot at a quick passage to the semis with a victory over NLEX.

Like Converge, NLEX also needs to win two straight games against Ginebra to earn passage to the semis.

As the titleholder, Ginebra is the odds-on favorite against NLEX, but coach Tim Cone expressed concernsabout his depleted lineup minus Japeth Aguilar and LA Tenorio.

But the Kings are confident they can still compete.

“I think we just got to focus more down the stretch. We’re a veteran team, so I think we should have been smarter,” said

Ginebra import Justin Brownlee.

Brownlee rued their endgame downfall against TNT Friday.

“The biggest thing there was turnovers. We got more rebounds. We shot a good percentage. We shared the ball pretty well – we’re close to about 30 assists. Overall, I think we did a great job. But that last portion of the fourth quarter, that really hurt us,” added Brownlee.