By REYNALD MAGALLON
They were the new kids on the block. The inexperienced. The lamb in the wolves’ lair.
But the Meralco Bolts hardly looked any of that through the first three games of their very first PBA Philippine Cup Finals as they continued to demonstrate the maturity and composure even after taking a 2-1 series lead against the San Miguel Beermen on Sunday, June 9.
Meralco head coach Luigi Trillo said the Bolts are staying grounded after the 93-89 Game 3 win, knowing full well that they’re only halfway through to their goal and the job would only get tougher from hereon.
“Led by our captain here, there’s no celebration,” said Trillo referring to Chris Newsome who sat beside him during the post-game press conference.
“I’m sure he’s going to talk to the guys, our coaching staff, mag-uusap kami on Tuesday, we’ll get them grounded. We know this team, they’re very capable of coming back. We know they’ve been down. To us, we can’t celebrate, we know that,” he added.
Any team that is pegged as heavy underdogs in the series would have been celebrating already after pushing the favorites, as dominant as the Beermen at that, to a 2-1 series hole.
For one, the Bolts’ poise was also in full display in the endgame as Newsome buried a big trey with 34.2 seconds left before they banked on their signature defensive stand to preserve the win.
But no celebrations yet for the Meralco Bolts.
Not even when the Bolts made a big response to the heartbreaking Game 2 loss that could have given them a 3-0 lead in the series or even after Newsome exploded for 26 points including the trey and a pair of free throws that put on the finishing touches in the Game 3 win.
For them, it’s crucial to remain on their toes as the 2-1 series lead would mean nothing to a team like SMB, which once upon a time, essayed a fairy tale comeback from a 0-3 deficit in the Finals.
“This is a series. We’re going up against San Miguel, which is the best team of the decade. They’re playoff-ready. They’ve been through a lot of series. It’s going to be tough to go up 3-1, especially after this win by us. They’re going to be hungry,” said Newsome.
Meralco had also been notorious for suffering collapses in a series where it led 2-1. They’ve actually done it twice in the Finals of the Governors’ Cup only to falter in the end and lost to Barangay Ginebra on both occassions.
Newsome is looking at the veterans of the team to take the lead and prevent that same heartbreak happening this time around.
“We’ve definitely been here before, but the result didn’t pan out the way we wanted to. For those guys that were with us during that 2-1 lead and we had that lapse, those are the guys that are actually the most vocal in our locker room today,” said Newsome.
“It’s going to be on the veterans in our locker room to come out and be vocal about it. But when it’s all said and done, it’s not about what you say, it’s about what you do. We can say we can come out and have all this energy and do this and that, but what really matters is stepping out on that court in Game 4 and getting the job done,” he added.
