Purefoods bounced back from its consecutive losses by beating Burger King on Christmas Day. They followed it up with a no-bearing win against the guest team, Smart Gilas to start the New Year. Purefoods also swept the rest of its schedule, with the streak highlighted by a convincing win over the league-leading Alaska on January 15. Because Alaska and San Miguel did well in the first round of the Eliminations, the Giants failed to steal an outright semifinal slot from the Aces, who needed to win their last scheduled game to avoid a tie-breaker with Purefoods. The Giants ended the classification phase with a record of 12–6, third overall in the standings, which gave them an outright quarterfinal slot. In the quarters, the Giants extended their win streak to six by winning the first two games of their series with Rain or Shine.