PBA: Streaking Bolts face Kia

By JONAS TERRADO

The Meralco Bolts look to stretch their unbeaten run to four games when they take on the winless Kia Picanto today in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

With no signs of slowing down, Meralco favored to prevail over a Kia side that couldn’t seem to catch a break after losing its first four matches by lopsided margins in the second game set at 6:45 p.m.

Hoping to snap a two-game skid are the Phoenix Fuel Masters, who battle another team without a victory in the Blackwater Elite in the 4:30 p.m. opener.

Meralco is expected to get a breather today after beating Barangay Ginebra San Miguel (93-78) and Rain or Shine (89-73) in the last two weeks.

Much of the Bolts success have been credited to reigning Best Import Allen Durham (23.7 points, 22.7 rebounds, and 7.0 assists) and locals Baser Amer (11.7 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 6.7 assists) and Jared Dillinger (15.7 points).

While everything looks fine at the Meralco camp, coach Norman Black would like to take advantage of the good form while they can, considering the Bolts’ recent history of failing to sustain good starts.

“It seems that you will always get some type of bump on the road somewhere down the line, so while we are playing good particularly on the defensive end, we just want to get as many wins as we can and try to take advantage of the twice-to-beat advantage for the top four teams,” Black said.

That’s is why Meralco can’t waste the opportunity of beating Kia, a squad that is coming off a 120-99 loss to Ginebra Wednesday that left coach Chris Gavina and team management frustrated.

“If we don’t come in with the effort level and the lack of belief in our ability to compete and win, we’ll get smashed again,” Gavina said. “And I don’t sugarcoat things, I told them straight up, if they don’t come in with the level of belief in practice, then the effort and the collective desire to hold each other accountable in order for us to succeed, we may not win a game this conference.”