MERALCO coach Luigi Trillo accepted the blame for a defeat on Wednesday that left the Bolts in a 0-2 hole in their PBA 50th Season Philippine Cup semifinals against TNT.
The Bolts lost, 109-92, on a night where their active consultant Nenad Vucinic was out of the country to attend to the wedding of his daughter in New Zealand.
Trillo said he failed to lift his wards in a game where they played catch-up from the onset.
READ TNT cruises to wire-to-wire win, takes 2-0 lead against Meralco
“Didn’t play well today obviously,” Trillo said. “They hit a lot of threes. I just felt that their intensity (TNT) was at another level. That’s why they are Talk ‘N Text. You have to give credit to them with the way they played today.”
TNT shot 44-of-80 from the field, including 12-of-28 from three-point range, behind Calvin Oftana (26 points) and Jordan Heading (24). The Tropang 5G also held the Bolts to 30-of-72 shooting and a 1-of-14 clip from threes.
“They’re hitting every shot. They were on point,” said Trillo. “Their defense was bar none. Oftana played like Calvin Oftana, the best forward right now. And Heading played well. Hats off to Talk ‘N Text. They outplayed us every quarter.
“More than anything, that’s on me first. Looking at the guys, when they (opponent) take it to another level, we should be able to match it. We didn’t do that tonight. We didn’t shoot the ball well,” said Trillo.
Trillo said the absence of Vucenic had an effect in the game.
“I think when a coach is in his flow. and obviously, he has the pulse of the team and we are winning, that’s very hard,” said Trillo. “When somebody comes in, it’s different. But I’ll take this one. It’s on me.”
In Game One, Meralco only took 19 free throws against the 47 of TNT. Game 2 was a totally different story with Meralco attempting more free throws than TNT, 35-11, but still losing the contest.
“We only had 14 fouls. We had a lot of free throws. It’s funny, we complained about the free throws. We had a lot of free throws but our energy was not here whatsoever,” said Trillo.
However, Trillo said the series is still a long way from finished.
“At this point, there is still a lot of games to be played. Just moving forward, we need to play better. Just from the start, when you give 29, 28, 25, and 27 points in four quarters, we don’t deserve to win. That’s not our calling card,” said Trillo.
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