Allein Maliksi leads Meralco’s charge in PBA Finals Game 1. PBA IMAGES
MANILA, Philippines–Coming out the gates hard, Meralco played with sustained brilliance all of Wednesday night and picked apart Barangay Ginebra, 104-91, in the curtain raiser of the 2021 PBA Governors’ Cup Finals.
The Bolts saw several of their stars stepping up in the contest, with Allein Maliksi leading the charge with 20 points.
Import Tony Bishop Jr. chipped in 20 points and 12 rebounds, while Cliff Hodge 17 in the authoritative victory that put Meralco on the right side of history.
Catch and shoot 👌🏼 #PBAiTuloyAngLaban pic.twitter.com/m6tOGdaaGX
— PBA (@pbaconnect) April 6, 2022
Sixty of the 88 clubs who won the series opener of a best-of-seven championship series went on to win it all, according to stats chief Fidel Mangonon III.
Resident Ginebra import Justin Brownlee had 27 points, while Christian Stanhdardinger tossed in 20 more. Scottie Thompson had a triple-double of 19 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in the losing effort that showed just how much the defending champions missed the high-leaping Japeth Aguilar (out due to a calf injury).
Meralco led by as many as 21 points in the contest and will be shooting to do more of the same on Friday when the series resumes at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.