TONY Bishop continues to make Meralco’s lost chance with a former NBA star a distant memory.
Much like what he did in his first game, but this time against a much tougher opponent, Bishop anchored the Bolts to an 83-80 decision over TNT in a playoff-like tussle last Wednesday in the PBA Governors Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“Another good game for Tony,” Meralco coach Norman Black said of the last-minute replacement for Shabazz Muhammad, who finished with 36 points on 52-percent shooting, together with 17 rebounds, three assists, and a steal in over 41 minutes.
More than the numbers, Black cited Bishop’s endgame poise and play that impressed him about the Dallas-born Panamanian more as he ultimately powered Meralco to its second win in as many games and share third-running spot with Magnolia.
“He stepped up and made some big plays for us, none bigger than the offensive rebound at the end of the game,” recalled Black. “When we missed the shot, we were able to get the ball back and that gave us a chance to basically run the clock out and control the game.”
That play came after TNT’s Mikey Williams’ floater made it an 80-82 game, 39 ticks left.
After a Meralco timeout, the Tropang Giga defense disrupted the Bolts’ offense in such a way that the latter had no choice but get the ball to Cliff Hodge, who hurriedly launched a triple just to beat the shotclock.
Hodge’s shot missed, but Bishop corralled the offensive rebound and got the ball out to Chris Newsome.
Newsome went on to split his charities with 9.1 ticks left to make it a three-point game and the Bolts’ own defense harried the Tropa’s Kelly Williams to miss a triple try before the final buzzer.
Bishop also pushed the Bolts ahead for good when he completed a three-point play with 3:55 to play that broke a 76-all deadlock and then followed that up with another floater.
That cushion proved to be a flimsy one indeed, but Meralco managed to hold on, no little thanks to Bishop’s splendid follow-up performance to his 28-point, 13-rebound, three-steal debut against the Blackwater Bossing last Thursday.
“After two games, he’s done very, very well. And I’m certainly happy with his play,” said Black.
For Bishop his fine play so far should be credited to his teammates for making him at ease. “The guys make it easy for me,” he said.
