MERALCO coach Luigi Trillo remains upbeat about the team’s chances of equalizing the PBA 48th Season Philippine Cup semifinal series against Barangay Ginebra.
Trillo said they saw a lot of positives in Game Five where the Bolts led at one point by 15 points over their perennial playoff rival.
But in true ‘Never Say Die’ spirit, Barangay Ginebra overcame the huge deficit to win, 89-84, and move one win away from a place in the finals.
'We had them on the ropes'
With how they played for most of Sunday’s game, Trillo is confident Meralco can put together a performance good enough to force a Game Seven which will be played in San Jose, Batangas.
“We had them on the ropes,” said Trillo. “Marami kaming magandang ginagawa. Then, I noticed maybe we just had mistakes all across the board… It’s just some things that we did.”
“We build a lead. We were doing some good things. It’s a series. We are playing some good basketball but we need to finish that,” Trillo said.
In Game Five, Meralco allowed Ginebra to shoot 49.2 percent from the field, including a 26-of-49 from two-point range. The Bolts were outrebounded, 47-38, although they forced the Gin Kings to commit more turnovers, 14-6,
Christian Standhardinger also dominated the contest by finishing with 34 points and 10 rebounds for Ginebra.
“I think we did well pero hinabol nila. You have to give them credit, too. They didn’t give up. They were resilient. Standhardinger, maganda ang efficiency niya. They made big shots,” Trillo said.
Trillo said Meralco wasn’t able to take advantage of some opportunities in the game, including Ginebra getting into penalty in the fourth quarter.
“We had opportunities. We had some looks. We didn’t put the ball in the hole… But at the end of the day, we lost the game. We have nobody else to blame but ourselves.”
The good thing for Meralco is that the Bolts have been here before. Meralco was once down early in the series after Ginebra took Game One, only to capture the next two games to take the upper hand.
“We believe in our guys. We bounced back. This is not going to be easy. There is going to be some painful things in the series. This is painful but it’s not over. Focus lang kami sa next game,” said Trillo.
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