Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net
Niño Canaleta has been in the league for so long that he knows not to put too much thought on his high-scoring performance if it ends in a loss.
Canaleta shot 7-of-12 from three for a team-high 28 points in the Bolts’ frustrating 85-85 defeat at the hands of GlobalPort in the 2018 PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
“It felt useless because our team didn’t have equal contributions,” said Canaleta, who knows that winning games takes more than just a couple of players stepping up. “I had a good performance, but if the others have a bad game, we won’t win.”
Import Arinze Onuaku got 21 points and 14 rebounds, but aside from the two, no one else from Meralco scored in double digits as usual suspects like Baser Amer, Cliff Hodge, and Jared Dillinger all played a subpar game.
“Like what coach tells us, we’re not as strong as the other teams so we need to be consistent. We always need equal contributions,” said Canaleta.
The 36-year-old forward, though, has hope that the Bolts can turn their inconsistent start into a solid performance this conference.
“Maybe we need to know each other a little, those little things. We lack on those, and I think we’ll get it eventually,” he said.
Meralco aims for a bounce back when it faces NLEX on May 4.