PBA: Meralco makes a bolt for the title

Meralco Bolts’ Chris Newsome shoots during Game 7 of the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals against Gineba.–PBA IMAGES

Chris Newsome, who has seen constant playoff disappointment ever since joining the only team he’s played up to this point of his PBA career, took pride in the accomplishment of getting past Barangay Ginebra in a seven-game series.

“From those losses, if you don’t take anything from it, if you don’t learn, you gonna keep repeating the same mistakes,” Newsome said outside FPJ Arena in San Jose, Batangas, after the Bolts earned the right to face the San Miguel Beermen for the PBA Philippine Cup crown.

SCHEDULE: 2024 PBA Philippine Cup Finals San Miguel vs Meralco

“I think we finally proved that we finally learned our lesson and we can overcome that,” added Newsome after the 78-69 win in the semifinal decider.

Those lessons will obviously come in handy for the championship series which the Bolts are in for the fifth time, but they will be treading unfamiliar ground playing their first title showdown against a team outside of the Gin Kings and in a conference considered as the league’s most important prize.

First since Micaa days

Their bid to win a first PBA title, and the first major basketball trophy since ruling the 1971 edition of the defunct Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association (Micaa) with Robert Jaworski leading the way will have go through San Miguel, a team that is no neophyte when it comes to being on the biggest stage—and which has turned this conference into its favorite trophy hunting ground.

“We’re excited to go up against them,” said Newsome. “Those are real winners, those guys have won it for many years, and now it’s time for us to see if we can keep up with them, give them a good run, and hopefully get our first championship.”

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Odds of a breakthrough, however, are low given the perceived label of San Miguel as a squad with immense talent from top to bottom, one anchored by seven-time MVP June Mar Fajardo.

San Miguel swept Rain or Shine in the other semis last week, continuing a dominant all-Filipino campaign of having absorbed just two defeats.

Sweep stopped

But one of those losses came at the hands of Meralco, an 85-82 winner last May 4 in Batangas City that spoiled San Miguel’s march to an 11-game sweep of the eliminations.

“It’s the regular season [elimination round], it counts for nothing,” said Meralco consultant Nenad Vucinic, the Serbian who has been credited by coach Luigi Trillo for the transformation of the Bolts program.

Vucinic, though, feels that triumph over the Gin Kings would bode well despite the Bolts’ underdog status.

“Playoffs is a different ballgame, but Ginebra made us work hard,” he continued. “San Miguel is a good team with incredible talent coming off the bench as well.

“But I think we developed depth as well, that we are confident of putting some guys in there that did not play much in the past. We hope it’s gonna be a long series, and we’re gonna try to make it a long series.”