THE Meralco faithful–clad in orange and blue shirts or jerseys with the surnames of the team’s players embedded on them–beamed and proudly released balloons and raised banners after the final buzzer sounded last Sunday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
One word printed in bold and capital letters on the banners — Believe — has been the rallying cry of the Bolts’ backers in the team’s battle with mighty and defending champion San Miguel Beer in the PBA Philippine Cup title clash.
Meralco’s incorrigible fighting spirit has been rewarded with a handsome dividend so far, a 2-1 lead hand in the race-to-4 series, after the Bolts got back at the Beermen via a 93-89 decision in Game 3.
What comes with that big belief is not falling into the traps of complacency against an SMB quintet expected to battle back hard in the next match.
“This game may have been a win but clearly we need to improve some things,” Bolts coach Luigi Trillo said. “We won but we were not satisfied with the last three, four minutes.
“There were certain things as a group that we needed to do, and we didn’t do some of those,” he added.
Top playmaker Chris Newsome gamely backed up Trillo’s claims, convinced the Beermen are far from done.
“This is a series. We’re going up against San Miguel, which is the best team of the decade.
They’re playoff ready. They’ve been through a lot of series,” Newsome said.
“It’s going to be tough to go up 3-1, especially after this win by us. They’re going to be hungry.”
Newsome waxed hot with a game-high 26 points, to go with four rebounds, and four assists –including a backbreaking three-pointer that gave the Bolts the lead for good with 34.1 seconds to go–and two free throws that pegged the final count.
Big man Raymond Almazan chimed in with a double-double of 17 markers and 13 boards.
Bong Quinto also had 16 points while Banchero and Cliff Hodge had 10 each as the Bolts recovered from a stinging 94-95 loss in the second game last Friday.
Meralco seeks a commanding 3-1 edge in the Big Dance in Game 4 set for tomorrow at 7:35 p.m. also at the Big Dome.
SMB employed a two-three zone defense against the Bolts to no avail all game long, capped by Newsome’s booming triple coming off Meralco’s fast-paced ball movement.
In contrast, prized Beermen center June Mar Fajardo battled foul trouble against the Bolts’ big men of Almazan, Brandon Bates, Kyle Pascual, and Norbert Torres.
It didn’t help that SMB star guard CJ Perez muffed a layup at crunch time.
