Bolts hoping to build on 2 finals losses to Ginebra to get better
FOR two straight years, Barangay Ginebra and Meralco were able to forge a new age rivalry, something fans could look forward to in the years to come.
Luigi Trillo, assistant coach of Norman Black at Meralco and Jared Dillinger, one of the few veteran mainstays of the Bolts, summed up the things they’ve learned in the series against the Gin Kings, who defeated them for the second year in a row in the finals series.
The Gin Kings defeated the Bolts for the second straight year, but this time, the up and coming Meralco squad was able to push the league’s most popular team to the limit.
“The thing that you noticed is it’s a good rivalry because it’s both well-coached. I think when you go to a Game 7 and you don’t back down, you have to look for ways,” Mr. Trillo told BusinessWorld.
“They lost Sol (Mercado) and they looked for ways, we lost Del (Ranidel de Ocampo) then we have to find ways. But one thing I’m excited about is the guy who struggled for us are the newer guys, so hopefully we need to go through this so the next time it happens, we’re better prepared. Sometimes, they need to go through it. Baser (Amer) had to go through it, (Chris) Newsome had to go through it and you need to go thru this process. You look at the years that we’ve been, two semis, two finals, in three years, it’s really a good stepping atone for us.”
But Mr. Dillinger had a different take on the rivalry.
“I didn’t call it a rivalry, they beat us twice,” said Mr. Dillinger. “I’m speechless a bit about the rivalry until we can actually win a championship against them, it’s not really rivalry. “
But Mr. Dillinger is hoping the Bolts can build something from the two losses they had against Barangay Ginebra.
“We have great pieces. We do. We have solid group of veterans and young guys. We have a good team, “added Mr. Dillinger. “We have to build on the culture. We have a great group of coaching staff and management is very supportive. It’s tough as we were on the edge, but it’s tough we lost again. Hopefully, we can continue to build.” —