ANTIPOLO – Chris Newsome wants nothing but the championship for the Meralco franchise, and admitted it will be even sweeter if the Bolts win it against Barangay Ginebra.
Newsome will be making his return to the finals after two heartbreaks over the past seasons when Meralco lost to Ginebra in the 2016 and 2017 Governors’ Cup, the only finals appearances of the Bolts in franchise history.
And Newsome is thrilled that he gets another shot at Ginebra again in this year’s edition of the Governors’ Cup.
“Back in the finals, it’s a great feeling,” said Newsome. “I’m excited to finally have another shot against Ginebra of all teams. There’s nobody else that I’d rather play than Ginebra obviously because of the history. We lost to them twice so we have to go in there and get a win this time.”
Newsome had 23 points, 16 coming in the second half for the Bolts, who pulled off an 89-78 win over TNT to finish off the KaTropa in five games and advance to the finals against Barangay Ginebra. Game One is on Jan. 8 at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
“I think it will mean a lot more if we won. A championship is a championship but just losing to them twice in the finals, if we can get a win, it will mean a lot to me, to coach, and to the franchise and everybody in the organization,” said Newsome.
As to Game Five, Newsome is just happy that his efforts led to a hard-earned win where the Bolts fought back from a 42-35 deficit following a second quarter that saw them only hit two field goals.
“Game Five is just tough because basically, the strategies have already kinda played out. At that point, you just have to come out and play. We struggled a bit to put the ball in the basket but we know if that was going to be the case, our mindset had to be, they are not going to score and try to limit them as much as possible and try to get close.
“Of course, it’s a game of two halves. We understand that. We were struggling a bit but we tried to keep it close and go into half and make adjusments,” Newsome said.
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