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Is Jared Dillinger’s return a sign of the pages turning for Meralco?
The 33-year-old hopes so.
Playing in only his second game in almost three and a half months, Dillinger was caught by surprise when coach Norman Black’s inserted him in the starting five.
“I haven’t had too much time getting my feet wet and I was practicing with the team maybe a couple days, but I’m happy he put me in the fire and put me in that situation to try to help the team the best way I can,” he said.
Though Dillinger is still far from his peak form, the rest of the Bolts covered for his struggles as the team went on to Rain or Shine, 82-72, on Friday to end their six-game slide.
“I’m happy that we won, that’s for sure. I guess we’ll try to focus on the next game and try to salvage what we can in this conference and try to get into some momentum next conference,” said the 6-foot-4 swingman.
Dillinger struggled in the offensive end with three points in 1-of-9 shooting, but atoned for his misses by putting in the effort on other aspects as he corralled five rebounds and dished out two assists.
He shared that he’s still working his way back to top shape after a hamstring injury, a process that doesn’t happen overnight.
“If I was 21, maybe I’ll be OK in next game, but I’m not 21 anymore. I got to trust the process. Obviously tonight, I had zero legs out there and I think I played for 30 minutes. It will take some time to get my legs and my rhythm back,” he said. “Putting defense is pretty easy but everything else, it’s going to take some time to get it together.”
And the same goes for Meralco, which struggled for most on the conference and now only has an outside chance of squeaking into the top eight with a 3-7 and a game left in its schedule.
“We are not in control of our destiny anymore. All we can do is hopefully beat Star, but we need some help from some other teams to lose some games,” he said.
“We are not trying to look of making it in the playoffs, but rather, just getting momentum. We’re looking at it one game at a time and thinking of it for the whole year, not just this conference.”
The Bolts clash against the Hotshots on January 28 at Philsports Arena in Pasig.