THE door to the playoffs is set to close and Meralco and Blackwater want to keep it open following what should be a critical match for both Wednesday in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
A win by the Bolts would give them a 4-5 card and a clearer shot at advancing to the quarterfinals following the 11-game eliminations.
For their part, the Bossing want to cut short their own two-game slide, improve their slate to 2-4 and fan their flickering hopes of making it among the top eight teams advancing to the next round.
Putting its defensive act together is Meralco's main concern, more so now that Cliff Hodge has to serve out the one-game suspension meted on him by the league for his flagrant foul on Magnolia's Zavier Lucero last week.
"Cliff is a big part of what we do, he's our anchor," said Meralco coach Luigi Trillo. "So hopefully (the other Bolts) can make up for it collectively."
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His side, added Trillo, deviating from its usual defensive tenacity - and consequently struggling offensively - is the main reason it suffered back-to-back losses to TNT and Magnolia.
"Our defense has not been point-blank. We used to be top two, three, in the league and we need to get our defense right," stated Trillo.
"When you're missing shots, you're missing free throws, those things come because your confidence is down," Trillo also said. "But your defense is something you must hold on to."
Now comes a Blackwater crew, featuring the explosive duo of Sedrick Barefield and Christian David, which should be well-rested and fully prepared following a 106-120 loss to Rain or Shine last May 7.
"David and Barefield are really solid guys. I mean, those two are the first and second picks in the (2023, '24) draft and can break down guys one-on-one. They're very good at one-on-one. So without Cliff there as the backbone of our defense, we're gonna have to find ways," noted Trillo.
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First, Meralco has to clean up its own act first. "We've got to be better around the boards. We've got to have confidence in our shots, we have to play better defense. That's our bread-and-butter, defense and rebounding," Trillo pointed out.
"We want to get right for the playoffs. I think with three games to go we have a good chance at that. Kailangan we've got to set the tone with what we're doing. We're messing up a lot. We're breaking down defensively. We've got to be more precise, we have to make sure we're cleaning up our mistakes."(NC)
