By REYNALD MAGALLON
A visibly dejected Robert Bolick came out of NLEX dugout and politely declined interviews from the members of the press.
But who would not be?
The Best Player of the Conference frontrunner poured it all with 48 points but the Road Warriors still fell short, 97-93, in a loss that pushed them on brink of elimination in their best-of-three quarterfinals series against Meralco.
Bolick did everything he could, single handedly kept his team on the lead before collapsing in the end, wasting one of the largest scoring outburst in league’s recent history or since Stanley Pringle exploded for 50 for NorthPort in 2018.
The high scoring guard drilled six triples and put up a near-perfect 18-of-19 from the charity stripe. He scored 20 points in the first quarters alone as the Road Warriors took a lead that went to as high as 12 points.
His heroics, however, went down the drain.
The Bolts, boasting plenty of playoff experience, were simply too poised in the end game and forced the Road Warriors to crucial mistakes all while guys like Chris Newsome and Allein Maliksi delivering the goods on the offensive end.
Still, they might be on the other side of the fence, but Meralco head coach Luigi Trillo tipped his hats off to Bolick for the explosive performance.
“Maganda yung nilaro niya. It was not part of the game plan you have to give it to Robert. He’s so good at picking angles and picking shots,” said Trillo who noted how hard they tried different defensive schemes and lineup just to deny Bolick from his comfortable spots.
“It really takes five guys playing defense on him and that’s Robert Bolick for you. Sa first half palang umarangkada na siya,” he added.
One might think that NLEX would be easier to defend when it’s only Bolick who is scoring for the team but it was still easier said than done according to Trillo.
“You know that the ball is going to Bolick diba but it’s not one guy you’re defending kasi. Tumatawag siya ng players up so he’s looking for somebody to attack,” recalled Trillo.
“We tried several lineups, our big lineup, our small lineup. But yung lamang kasi ni Bolick when he gets the ball, he’s able to get angles so it’s a hard matchup,” he added noting how Bolick can easily pull up from deep or attack the basket and finish through traffic.
