WHILE the spotlight was on former NBA player Jeremy Lin of New Taipei, home team Meralco managed to give Lin and the Kings fits.
Until the Bolts faded in the second half.
With Lin showing the way, New Taipei turned back Meralco 89-77 last Wednesday night to stay unbeaten in the EASL Home and Away Season before a good-sized crowd at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig.
Basketball-loving Filipino fans trooped to the venue to watch the cager behind the “Linsanity” craze and Lin, in his second visit to the country, the first in 2013 during an NBA exhibition tiff, did not disappoint.
Trailing 42-47 at the half, the Kings unleashed a 11-0 blitz on Lin’s two straight three-pointers that gave them a 53-47 lead for good.
“The big thing for us is to stay positive and ride the momentum as much as possible,” New Taipei’s American coach Richard Marchand, who drew a game-high 23 points and 10 rebounds from Lin, said. “Basketball is a game of momentum, us being able to build up the things that we do positively on the court, making sure that we make corrections with the negative things we need to get better off.”
Chin-Min Yang added 13 markers for the Kings, while import Kenneth Manigault had 12 points and nine boards.
Joseph Lin and Kai-Yan Lee also combined for 22 as New Taipei rose to 3-0 in Group B.
The Bolts slipped to 1-4 and now face a must-win duel against the Seoul SK Knights on the road to keep alive their bid of advancing to the semifinals.
Meralco played with the ailing Chris Newsome and Aaron Black.
Bolts tactician Luigi Trillo admitted eight Meralco cagers were sick, with five of them testing positive for COVID-19.
“We’re not in the flow. But I thought there were instances in the game that we played well,” Trillo said. “When the second group was in, we we’re moving the ball well First group came back in, and we kind of got the lead in that second quarter.”
Added Bolts playmaker Chris Banchero: “We let them go. From there, we’re just fighting back. It’s difficult when you put yourself in that situation.”
Reinforcement Zach Lofton paced Meralco with 20 points, while Allein Maliksi and Banchero got 12 and 10 markers, respectively.
The Bolts’ supporters might have gone home disappointed, but not Lin’s fans.
