MERALCO isn’t exactly in a mood to celebrate after Game One of the PBA 48th Season Philippine Cup Finals knowing they are in for a long series against San Miguel.
“Winning Game One is always a big help but by no means are we happier or satisfied. It’s just one game,” said Chris Newsome on Friday.
Still a long way to go
The Bolts do not need to look very far to prove that Game One isn’t a reflection of how the finals will pan out. During their semifinal series, Meralco dropped a 92-88 win over Barangay Ginebra in Game One, but the Bolts eventually took the finals berth in seven games.
“You can look back at our last series against Ginebra. They won Game One and we ended up winning the series. It doesn’t necessarily mean because we won Game One that we won this series. There’s so much more work that has to be done,” said Newsome.
Though still too early in the series, Meralco can also look at how some of the core players of San Miguel were able to mount the ‘Beeracle’ comeback from 0-3 down to win over Alaska during the 2015-16 PBA Philippine Cup.
“This team is a championship team. They are a dynasty team. They are capable of doing amazing things. You were all there for the ‘Beeracle’, you know that you can never count this team out. All I know is they are going to go back to the drawing board and find ways to execute much better and counter everything that we did.”
“That’s how good of an organization they are. They are very smart all the way through and they are proven winners so you can never count out the heart of a champion. For us, it’s about staying humble and staying focused because we know what we are trying to accomplish,” said the 33-year-old Newsome.
Team effort in Game 1
If there’s something that Meralco proved in Game One, it is that they indeed have a realistic chance against the league’s powerhouse, which captured their first 10 games of the conference but lost to the same Bolts team afterwards during the elimination round.
Newsome powered the Bolts with 18 points, six rebounds, five assists, and two steals, but also got a lot of support from Chris Banchero, who also had 18 points while also hauling seven rebounds and dishing out five assists.
Several players, however, also broke out with Newsome noting the effort of the bigs, who have the arduous task of defending perhaps the best player in the country today in San Miguel’s June Mar Fajardo.
“You definitely got to give a shoutout to the guys that are doing things that you don’t see on the stat sheet. We, as a team and as an organization, we’d love to cheer those guys on and encourage those guys because those are the guys that actually have that role and they are embracing that role to the best of their ability,” said Newsome.
“You’ve got to give a shoutout. You’ve got Cliff Hodge who had 15 rebounds. You’ve got Raymond with seven rebounds, and you’ve got Brandon Bates with four blocks. Yeah, they are on the stat sheet but those things are intangibles that help us so much.
Meralco though is expecting a bounce back game for San Miguel and Newsome emphasized that the team must be ready for that.
“This is definitely a team game and we’ve got so much that we have to do. This is just one game. We have another one on Friday,” said Newsome.
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