NLEX and TNT face formidable rivals when they gun for outright semis berths in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Armed with twice-to-beat advantage, No. 2 NLEXwill take on No. 7 Alaska Milk at 3 p.m., while No. 3 TNT will meet No. 6 and defending champion Barangay Ginebra in the mainer at 6 p.m.

The Road Warriors and Tropang Giga need only to win tonight to advance to the semis.

But both NLEX coach Yeng Guiao and TNT mentor Chot Reyes admit beating Alaska and Ginebra in their quarterfinal matches would be easier said than done.

NLEX, for one, will parade a new and untested import in Cameron Clark.

Clark arrived in the country only last week to take the place of NBA veteran KJ McDaniels, who had to rush back to the United States for the birth of his child.

“Hindi pa namin alam kung paano siya mag-pe-perform,” said Guiao in an interview posted at the official PBA website.

“Si KJ subok na, alam na alam mo na kung ano ibibigay sa iyo. Itong si Cam, although we’re seeing good things in practice, hindi mo pa rin alam kung ano ibibigay sa iyo come game time.”

Alaska will be ready for Clark.

“After watching all those videos of Clark, we were able to find some basic tendencies kung paano siya maglaro,” said Alaska coach Jeffrey Cariaso, adding his staff was able to draw up a basic defensive gameplan based on past experience.

While saying his team is ready, TNT coach Chot Reyes is worried about their next opponent: Ginebra.

“We did everything we could to win this game only to face Ginebra in the next game, in the next round of the playoffs,” said Reyes after TNT’s hard-earned 106-101 victory over hard-fighting NorthPort in their final elimination round assignment last March 11.

“We’re playing the team with the resident Best Import so we just have to get ready. So we have to get ready. We have no choice,” added Reyes.

“It is going to take much, much better defensive effort for us to be able to beat a team like Ginebra.”

Playoffs, if necessary, will be played on Saturday.

The other quarterfinal pairings will pit No. 1Magnolia against No. 8 Phoenix Super LPG and No. 4 Meralco against No 5 San Miguel Beer on Friday.