
Meralco seeks 3-1 lead vs San Miguel
MERALCO will gun for a decisive 3-1 lead over defending champion San Miguel Beer in the resumption of their PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven title series at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
But Meralco coach Luigi Trillo knows beating San Miguel — and taking a 3-1 lead — is easier said than done.
The Bolts, after all, are in similar situation before, taking a 2-1 lead twice in a best-of-seven finals and finding themselves on the losing end both times.
“We know this team (San Miguel), they’re very capable of coming back and we know they’ve been down before. As for us, we believe we can play better. We’ll be ready (for Game 4),” said Trillo on the eve of their 7:30 p.m. encounter.
Meralco gunner Chris Newsome agreed.
“You’re going up against San Miguel, who’s the best team of the decade and they’re playoffs-ready. They’ve been through a lot of series so it’s going to be tough to go up 3-1 against them. They’re going to be hungry,”said Newsome.
Newsome said the Bolts hope they can pick up some points from past sad losses and be a better team that can change their fortunes.
“Those of us who were there during that 2-1 lead, we’re passing our knowledge now on the things that we could have done better during our 2-1 leads, to capitalize on the situation and turn it into a 3-1 lead,” Newsome said.
Meanwhile, San Miguel star June Mar Fajardo welcomed the two-day break.
“Malaking bagay yun (rest) para sa amin, lalo na sa akin. Makaka-pagpahinga ako ng mahaba,” said Fajardo, who has been playing an average of 41 minutes in the first three games of the title series, including playing without relief the entire second half of Game 3 despite being in foul trouble.
“Nakakapagod din. Maganda yung depensa nila kasi ang dami nilang bigs. Tapos mabilis yung rotation nila,”he added.
“Maganda yung depensa nila, maganda yung team game nila, maganda yung preparation nila. Bounce back kami next game.”
Game Wednesday
(Smart Araneta Coliseum)
7:30 p.m.– Meralco vs. San Miguel
The results:
Game 1 — Meralco 93, San Miguel 86
Game 2 — San Miguel 95, Meralco 94
Game 3 — Meralco 93, San Miguel 89
(Meralco leads series, 2-1)