A bad start and injuries hampered Meralco's early exit in the PBA Commissioner's Cup.
Big man Raymond Almazan cited the two factors as the main reason behind the Bolts' failure to advance in the playoffs of the mid-season conference.
But while he has a ready answer on the team's breakdown, Almazan is not making excuses about it.
"Ayaw naman naming gawing excuses ang mga yun, kaya bawi na lang kami next conference," he said. "Palakas kami next conference, then yung mga weaknesses namin kailangang trabahuhin."
Truth be told though, health problem did play a big factor in Meralco's campaign.
Sponsored content:
The Bolts lost their best player in Chris Newsome at the start of the conference right away when he went down with a strained left calf in the team's game against Magnolia.
The former Rookie of the Year no longer played the rest of the tournament, leading to a fumbling 1-5 start for the franchise.
"Never pang na-injure si Newsome sa PBA career niya," Almazan noted of the 32-year-old guard out of Ateneo.
"And nag-start kami ng 1-5. Ang hirap umahon dun."
For a while, Meralco fanned its playoffs hope when import KJ McDaniels arrived and replaced Johnny O'Bryant.
Sponsored content:
In his third tour of duty in the league, the 29-year-old McDaniels led the Bolts to three straight wins and kept their bid for a quarterfinals berth alive.
Then injury struck anew, this time with Almazan falling pray to a severe sprained ankle during the Bolts' game against the Magnolia Hotshots, which they lost, 108-96.
The injury kept the Meralco center out of its do-or-die encounter with the NLEX Road Warriors, yielding a 92-81 loss in a game which the Bolts led by as many as 18 points at the half.
"Yung scenario namin meron kami talagang chance na makapasok sa playoffs, e," said the big man out of Letran.
"Pero breaks of the game, e."
Almazan said he just needs two weeks of rest before he fully recovers from his sprained ankle.
Hopefully, by the time Meralco began preparing for the Governors Cup, Almazan will be ready to join the team again.
"Pag balik namin sa practice, siguro makakasabay na ako ulit," he said. (RG)
