THE bitter memories of the most recent PBA Philippine Cups are starting to re-surface for Meralco.
The Bolts are determined to exorcise those demons while moving forward, starting with their game against TNT Sunday in the latest edition of the season-opening conference's swing at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
The KaTropa are bent on following up a 92-83 win over Blackwater last Wednesday, improve to 3-2 and at least take over solo fourth-running spot.
Not if Meralco snaps out of its doldrums that had it losing its last two games, the last a 98-103 defeat to Alaska two Wednesdays ago.
"It's a must-win situation for us to try and move up and keep pace in the standings," said coach Norman Black, whose Bolts wound up no higher than 11th in the last two stagings of the tournament and are currently in the same next-to-last spot.
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What hampers Meralco's bid is its inherent weakness up front, made more glaring by the calf injury Ranidel de Ocampo suffered during the last Governors Cup finals and Cliff Hodge having bone spurs removed during the off-season.
De Ocampo and Hodge would still be out Sunday, leaving Black to bank mostly on Jason Ballesteros, Reynel Hugnatan, Bryan Faundo and Ken Bono to patrol the paint and clog the middle.
That is where TNT has one advantage, what with coach Nash Racela boasting of Kelly Williams, Mo Tautuaa, Troy Rosario, Harvey Carey and even Frank Golla.
The KaTropa's real strength, however, lies on their spitfirish backcourt led by Jason Castro and Roger Pogoy. TNT's backcourt duo can either make plays for themselves and their teammates reason why they average 86.5 points an outing.
There is where Black's concerns stem from.
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"The TNT team is high-scoring so our defense must be on point," said Black while baring some basic strategies.
"Slowing down Jason and Pogoy will be a high priority.... My other players have to step up and lead us to victory for us to get the job done."
Needless to say, those Bolts should be chiefly KG Canaleta, Baser Amer, Chris Newsome and Jared Dillinger. (NCO
