MERALCO coach Luigi Trillo credited the team’s active consultant Nenad Vucinic for helping the Bolts reach their first PBA finals appearance in four years, as well as their maiden Philippine Cup championship berth.
READ: Meralco boots out Ginebra in Game 7, makes PBA Finals vs SMB
The Bolts beat Barangay Ginebra, 78-69, last Friday in Game Seven of the PBA 48th Season Philippine Cup semifinals in San Jose, Batangas to arrange a finals duel against San Miguel starting Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Nenad is captain of the ship, says Trillo
In an interview with reporters, Trillo explained just how Vucinic has made a difference.
“The guy in charge of our basketball program, coach Nenad. I see coach Tim [Cone] on the other side, he’s been a national coach. Coach Nenad also has been a national coach.”
“He is in charge of our team. He is the captain of our ship and he did a lot of things in this series to bring out the best in the guys. He gave a lot of coaching,” he said.
Vucinic became Meralco consultant in 2022 and did double duty with Gilas Pilipinas as part of the coaching staff of Tab Baldwin and then Chot Reyes. He even became the national team's interim coach, but eventually resigned.
The Serbian-New Zealander then took on the role of active consultant following Trillo's appointment as Bolts head coach in 2023.
Prior to the semifinals, Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone acknowledged the change that Vucinic has brought to Meralco.
“This is a familiar team, but they have a different system with coach Nenad. Their system is a lot different. And we struggled with it at times,” said Cone.
It's all about total team effort, responds Nenad
Vucinic, however, declined to take all the credit for the Bolts' recent success, saying that it has taken total team effort for the coaches to bring Meralco this far.
Even more, Vucinic paid tribute to the players who have been responding to the coaching that the staff has been providing all conference long.
“We are a coaching team (sic),” he said, implying that it has always been total team effort from the coaches down to the players. “It’s how we work now.”
With that, Vucinic is glad that the entire group was also able to prove doubters wrong after facing Ginebra in another seven-game playoff series.
“I’m proud of the team. They came with a big chip on their shoulder. With Ginebra, losing all the time in the playoffs, I was told that they (Meralco) can’t win in seven games. I was told that we are not good enough and we don’t have enough talent," he said.
"But they just worked for us and believed in everything that we are doing. It paid off.”
Vucinic, however, reminded that the season is far from over for the Bolts, as he believed they have the tools to - at least - make the finals a hardfought one against San Miguel.
“The job is not finished for us. We’ve got the No. 1 team in the country now. But we are confident that we can compete,” he said.
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