MERALCO has no choice but to defeat Barangay Ginebra today if it still seriously nurses hopes of staying alive in the Philippine Basketball Association’s (PBA) Governors’ Cup Finals.
How the Bolts will do it, it might help if their coach, Norman Black, could seek guidance from Lakers mentor Frank Vogel.
Boston Coach Brad Stevens regularly calls Vogel for help, a habit he developed as Stevens admitted in a USA Today interview that “I leaned on Vogel, when I accepted the Celtics job in 2013.”
See what I mean, Norman?
For, definitely, a Game Four loss tonight in the best-of-seven title playoffs would wallop the Bolts into a 3-1 hole, a situation that will absolutely give the Gin Kings the luxury of just winning once in the remaining three games to wrap up the crown.
And, at this stage, Ginebra looks well-poised to do it, having already claimed a second crown in three meetings with Meralco since 2016.
How to stop the Gin Kings from pocketing a third title against the Bolts is for Black to map out a plan to blunt Tim Cone’s coaching prowess—if only for tonight.
At least a Meralco win would be huge as it will somehow delay, if not possibly deflect, a strongly predicted Ginebra victory.
To do it, Black must, first and foremost, devise a fool-proof dragnet to block the incursions of slash-the-lane master Stanley Pringle.
Didn’t Pringle pounce repeatedly on the paint in Game Three’s critical third quarter, scattering 17 of his 21 points in that frame for an irreversible 20-point, 78-58 edge going into the last canto?
What happened to Meralco’s vaunted defense that magnificently held in the first two quarters, resulting in Ginebra’s supposedly manageable margins of 24-21 and 43-42, respectively?
If Pringle had escaped virtually unscathed, so did Justin Brownlee (24 points), Japeth Aguilar (23) and LA Tenorio (11).
If four guys could shoot double figures in wild abandon, where was Meralco’s defense?
And, yes, in Ginebra’s 21 assists in Game Three, the last two proved fatal—coming yet from Brownlee, whose two feeds in the dying seconds to Tenorio and Aguilar produced five devastating points that secured a 92-84 victory after the Bolts had closed in at 82-87 from 23 points down.
In fairness, Meralco had defense but, alas, it was not sustained.
Vogel’s gospel is defense wins games, a timeless formula that he brought to Lakerstown after leading Indiana to back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals—losing each time, sadly, to the LeBron James-led Miami.
But Vogel, a biologist by profession, now has the luck of coaching James, AP’s male player of the decade.
Los Angeles is now atop the Western Conference, looking certain of re-entering the playoffs after six straight failures in as many seasons.
As to offense, Vogel, 45, has this tip: “I give freedom for everybody to shoot but there must be accountability.”
You keep misfiring, you pay the price.
Meralco must mend fences tonight—or die. Early.
THAT’S IT Does it make sense seeing Dave Ildefonso return to Ateneo from National University in the next UAAP basketball season, leaving behind his brother, Shaun, to continue wearing the Bulldog jersey? Is Dave going to do it in revenge of the sacking of his father, Danny, as an assistant coach at NU?…Best wishes anew to Des and Auring Bautista for celebrating their 50th year of married life!… And thank you once again for the endless love of Baguio Country Club GM Anthony de Leon. You are one of a kind, GM! Also to Ms. Lanie Licudine. Cheers, Lanie!