A frustrated Norman Black. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Even coach Norman Black couldn’t hide his frustration with the lack of effort in Meralco’s 92-72 Game 3 defeat to Alaska.
Black even went on to say the performance wasn’t worthy of a win.
“The first half was OK. We played pretty well and we played competitively. The second half was horrible and lazy. We didn’t get back on defense and turned the ball too much,” he said. “If you’re going to play basketball like that this late in the season, you don’t deserve to win.”
The Bolts were just outworked by the Aces in the second half and daw a s38-all deadlock at halftime turn to a 66-54 edge for the Aces after just a period. Unlike Game 2, there wasn’t any comeback this time Alaska held on and coasted to the 2-1 series lead.
“I always tell the players at this point of the conference, it’s the little details that make the difference sometimes. If you don’t give the effort and I have to start coaching sprinting back on defense this late in the conference, we’re going to have problems,” said Black. “We have to be into details, how are we going to attack them defensively, how defending their pick-and-roll and post offense. But tonight was not about that. It was about us not having the effort in the second half and we have to fix it.”
The Grand Slam-winning coach also singled out import Arinze Onuaku for what he felt was a sluggish showing in the game on Friday: “He’s one of the people I’m talking about not getting back on defense.”
Though the 6-foot-9 reinforcement tallied a team-best 16 points and 12 rebounds, Black wasn’t satisfied with the way Onuaku held himself against the bevy of Alaska’s big men.
“Arinze looked very tired in this game. He couldn’t get down on offense and defense,” he said. “At this point of the conference, you can’t have that. You have to go out and give the effort if you want to win the basketball game. You can’t be tired. You should be tired because this is your job, this is what you do for a living, and you have to go out and give the effort. If you don’t give the effort, you expect a team like Alaska will beat you.”
Black is hopeful that the two-day break will make all the difference for Meralco as it eyes to extend the best-of-5 series to a deciding affair.
“We’ll try to make adjustments and bounce back the next game. It’s a must-win situation. We just need to win on Monday, tie up the series, and give us a chance to make it to the Finals,” he said.