WITH the victory in the bag and precious seconds ticking away, Meralco’s energetic forward Cliff Hodge grinned from the bench and watched his teammates finish off favored Ginebra three days back.
Except for their inner circle, no one likely put their money on the Bolts to reach the Big Dance but the rag-tag squad of coach Luigi Trillo persevered and kept the faith.
“This is big for us. A series, seven games, could have gone either way,” Trillo said.
“Nobody’s being outcoached here, nobody was swept, it came down to this last game.
“A lot of belief and resilience here. I mean, you’re down 2-3, I don’t think a lot of teams come back from 2-3. Percentages, maybe about less than 30 percent, 25 percent, right?
But this is big for the organization,” he added.
Trillo spoke after his charges eked out a 78-69 victory over the Kings in the deciding match of their best-of-7 semifinals duel in the PBA Philippine Cup at the FPJ Arena in San Jose, Batangas.
The hard-earned triumph completed a riveting 4-3 series win and sent the Bolts to the finals, also a race-to-4, against top seed and defending champion San Miguel Beer.
Game 1 of the title showdown for the pro league’s crown jewel is set this Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Unlike Meralco, SMB will enjoy the luxury of rest heading into the finals, having scored a sweep of Rain or Shine capped by a 107-100 decision last May 24.
Trillo was understandably pleased no end with their first-ever finals stint in an import-less tourney and a maiden seventh game victory.
But he’s throwing those achievements out of the window, convinced the job is not yet done.
“At Meralco, we have a lot of pride in what we do. We’re going to savor this,” Trillo said.
“But we’re going to go back on the drawing board, but we’ll come prepared. We believe in these guys.
“(Against) San Miguel, we have a lot of respect for them, but we can match up with them.”
Ranged against the mighty Beermen who only lost twice in the conference (92-95 against the Bolts in the eliminations in Batangas City, and 95-106 against the Terrafirma Dyip in the quarterfinals), Trillo and the Bolts are unfazed.
“I thought they guys were poised, and like you said, we beat them (Kings) back-to-back now. So, that’s something to be proud about,” he said.
