MERALCO and San Miguel need to turn on the switch as they kick off the Philippines' campaign in the East Asia Super League (EASL) Home and Away Season 2 on Wednesday.
Coming off heartbreaking losses in the PBA Governors' Cup quarterfinals, the Bolts and Beermen take on separate opponents in the twinbill opener of the regional league at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The Beermen go up against the Suwon KT Sonicboom of the Korean Basketball League in the opening game at 6:10 p.m., followed by the showdown between the Bolts and new team Macau Black Bears at 8:10 p.m.
EJ Anosike and the comebacking Quincy Miller will anchor San Miguel's bid this season, although the Beermen are fresh from a 114-112 loss to the Converge FiberXers in Game 3 of their best-of-five series behind the game winner of guard Alec Stockton.
"We have to prepare for EASL and play on Wednesday and prepare for these guys (FiberXers) on Friday," said San Miguel playing assistant coach Chris Ross of the mindset the Beermen have to adopt after the sorry loss against the FiberXers where they lost grip of a huge 27-point lead in the third quarter.
Sponsored content: Meanwhile, Meralco will keep Allen Durham and team him up with DJ Kennedy and naturalized player Ange Kouame as it tries to pick up the pieces of its shattered pride after being swept by Barangay Ginebra in three games of their own quarterfinals series.
"It's going to be very hard because we're just coming off a loss. I don't how were going to motivate these guys," said coach Luigi Trillo following the Bolts' 113-106 loss to the Kings.
"We're zoned in on here and we haven't at all really done anything in the EASL. Our focus was here and it's hard to just all of a sudden move from it. But we have to do it."
Both San Miguel and Meralco represented the PBA in the first ever EASL Home and Away Season, but they failed to advance past the group stage.
Meanwhile, EASL executives are upbeat about the regional league kicking off its new season in Manila.
Sponsored content: "It's going to be one big show. We're launching the EASL 2024-25 season. It's the first time we're doing it in Manila and we know how much Filipinos love the game of basketball. It's not only an honor, but more of an obligation to host the games here in Manila," said Banjo Albano, VP Business Development and Head of EASL Philippines in the weekly Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum.
"We felt Manila is the best place to kick off the new season."
Adam Zecha, VP Head of Commercial and Broadcast Operations, said games will be aired by broadcast partner Cignal TV.
"We're pleased to say that Cignal TV would be our broadcast partner this season, and they are our broadcast partner last season as well. Fans are able to watch the games on Cignal, One Sport, One Sport Plus, and Pilipinas Live," said Zecha, adding the EASL have 20 broadcast partners which will delived the contents to basketball fans all around the world. (RG)
