WHEN I look at the Meralco Bolts the past three seasons, they have had their chances to bag some Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) silverware but have, unfortunately, come up short. They have picked up some stellar imports, such as Arinze Onuaku and Allen Durham, but they do not have the local crew to compete. This isn’t to say that they don’t. They do. Just not deep enough.
And speaking of that depth, minus four of their best players, they went into the Fiba Asia Champions Cup in Thailand, and by some good fortune, made it to the semifinals where they lost to Petrochimi of Iran that was stocked with national players. Then in the battle for the bronze, the Ghosts of Korea once more came to haunt a Philippine team. The Bolts finished in fourth spot.
Not bad. But still disappointing.
The short-handed Meralco Bolts opened the 2018 Fiba Asia Champions Cup with a 100-92 loss to Mono Vampire of Thailand. They lost to Alvark Tokyo, 84-73, after which they shocked Al Riyadi with a 96-63 pounding in their last assignment of the group stage.
Because of the quotient system, Meralco was given a chance to compete in the semi-finals against Petrochimi of Iran.
Petrochimi is stacked with Iranian national players in Sajjad Mashayeki, Benham Yakchali, Ashgar Kardoust, Mohammad Jamshidi who himself once played briefly for Meralco two years ago, Arslan Kazemi, and Rouzbeh Arghavan. Surprisingly, Jamshidi was not fielded by their coach, Mehran Hatami.
The Bolts struggled to get consistent local support for imports Allen Durham and Diamond Stone. Garvo Lanete and Mike Tolomia provided it, but it wasn’t enough as KG Canaleta and Baser Amer struggled.
Consistency was the key word in local support (not only in Fiba Asia action, but in the PBA, as well). Reynel Hugnatan and Amer helped out the imports against Mono Vampire, however, no local scored in double digits against Alvark Tokyo.
Against Al Riyadi of Lebanon, the local support finally showed up with Lanete, Canaleta and Anjo Caram all scoring in double figures. Amer himself was two points away from double figures.
With a chance to salvage a bronze medal, Amer and Canaleta were able to help out Durham and Stone. But again, it wasn’t enough.