Meralco coach Normal Black. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Meralco threw everything but the kitchen sink, but that still wasn’t enough to stop the steamroller that is TNT.
“We did what we can. We tried everything we could come up today, but nothing really works,” said coach Norman Black after the Bolts’ 113-95 loss on Tuesday.
Though Meralco made Jayson Castro a marked man, the slasher played the role of distributor for the KaTropa while Michael Madanly did the damage offensive with 4-of-6 from three to ignite TNT’s 39-point third quarter breakaway.
“We had a difficult time stopping their penetration. We had a difficult time stopping their three-point shooting. You try to pick your poison on what are going to defend but when TNT is playing like that, it’s really difficult,” said Black. “You don’t want to go on a scoring game with TNT because they can outscore every team in the league.”
Meralco seemed to have found their groove in the first half but the nightmare of the third quarter proved to tough to get over from as it dropped to 0-1 in its best-of-5 semifinals series in the 2016 PBA Governors’ Cup.
But the Bolts just couldn’t control the pace of the game and couldn’t put a lid on the Texters’ shooters.
“What we really want to do is run when we have the opportunities and slow it down when we don’t, which we did not,” said the multi-titled mentor. “But I think it’s not too much to do with the pace of the game, it’s more of their ability to do outside shots. They just shot the ball very well and when any team shoot like that, they have a good chance in winning.”
Black, though, is hoping to draw more contributions from his locals, especially from Jared Dillinger, to provide support for reinforcement Allen Durham.
“If JD shoots well, we play well. When he doesn’t shoot well, we normally lose,” he said. “It really affects AD because he need a floor spacer and there’s nobody else on defense but Cliff on the outside. Normally what’s happening is they are just concentrated on AD, so when JD comes in and makes his outside shot, it opens everything up. It gives AD so much floor to maneuver, not just score but also to facilitate on his teammate. That’s just the weakness of our team. We’re not TNT, we’re not really a great three point shooting team.”