MERALCO’s path to an immediate target is getting smoother with each passing game, thanks largely to Tony Bishop.
Bolts coach Norman Black stressed that last Sunday, after Meralco scored a 101-95 victory over long-time nemesis Ginebra in the PBA Governors Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“Our import, Tony Bishop, has a lot to do with this victory. His consistency throughout the game, the fact that he shows up every game, gives us the foundation we can build on to try and win as much as possible,” Black said.
Bishop dished off another solid performance, finishing with 30 points and 13 rebounds and capping his heroics with a jumper that broke an 89-all count and sparked the finishing run that gave the Bolts a 96-89 advantage en route to their fourth straight win while relegating Ginebra to a 3-2 slate.
The win pushed Meralco alongside Magnolia at the top of the standings and kept the Bolts on track of finishing the 11-game eliminations among the top four that will be rewarded with a win-once advantage in the next round.
“Right now, our goal is to make it to the playoffs, make it to the quarterfinals, and hopefully to the twice-to-beat. That’s what we are aiming for right now. We just have our eyes set on that,” Black said.
The road ahead remains tough as Meralco still has to deal with Magnolia, San Miguel Beer and Rain or Shine. But to post wins over pre-tourney favorites as TNT and Ginebra surely pleased Black.
“Beating Ginebra is a big deal as far as we are concerned because, you know, they’ve beaten us a lot in the past,” Black said with a slight chuckle.
“So getting this game behind us, just like getting the TNT game behind us— those are two really tough opponents. And now we look forward to the next game coming up.”
Bishop is now tied with Magnolia’s Mike Harris as the tourney’s leading scorers with identical averages of 31.5 ppg, but Black is looking more at the Panamanian’s other norms of 14.0 rebounds, 1.25 steals and 1.0 blocks that also anchor what he feels is his team’s main overall weapon.
“We play pretty good defense. We hang our hats on playing defense,” said Black. “We think that’s one way we can be consistent and be competitive every single night.”
Black said that his charges’ ability to stifle Ginebra down the stretch propped up the Bolts to victory.
“We had to gut it out. It wasn’t a very pretty victory, to be quite honest with you,” admitted Black. “We didn’t shoot the ball that well and we didn’t execute that well, offensively. But we strung together some defensive stops in the second half and that allowed us to separate a little bit and allowed us to win the game.”
