Can the Bolts use all this hard-won experience for a title run?

Can the Bolts use all this hard-won experience for a title run?

by rick olivares

When I look at the Meralco Bolts the past three seasons, they have had their chances to bag some PBA silverware but have unfortunately, come up short. They have picked up some stellar imports such as Arinze Onuaku and Allen Durham but they do not have the local crew to compete. This isn’t to say that they don’t. They do. Just not deep enough.

And speaking of that depth, minus four of their best players, they went into the Fiba Asia Champions Cup in Thailand, and by some good fortune, made it to the semi-finals where they lost to Petrochimi of Iran that was stocked with national players. Then in the battle for the bronze, the Ghosts of Korea once more came to haunt a Philippine team. The Bolts finished in fourth spot.

Not bad. But still disappointing.

The short-handed Meralco Bolts opened the 2018 Fiba Asia Champions Cup with a 100-92 loss to Mono Vampire of Thailand. They lost to Alvark Tokyo, 84-73, after which they shocked Al Riyadi with a 96-63 pounding in their last assignment of the group stage.

Because of the quotient system, Meralco was given a chance to compete in the semi-finals against Petrochimi of Iran.

Petrochimi is stacked with Iranian national players in Sajjad Mashayeki, Benham Yakchali, Ashgar Kardoust, Mohammad Jamshidi who himself once played briefly for Meralco two years ago, Arslan Kazemi, and Rouzbeh Arghavan. Surprisingly, Jamshidi was not fielded by their coach, Mehran Hatami.

The Bolts struggled to get consistent local support for imports Allen Durham and Diamond Stone. Garvo Lanete and Mike Tolomia provided it, but it wasn’t enough as KG Canaleta and Baser Amer struggled.

Consistency was the key word in local support (not only in Fiba Asia action, but in the PBA as well). Reynel Hugnatan and Amer helped out the imports against Mono Vampire, however, there was no local scored in double digits against Alvark Tokyo.

Against Al Riyadi of Lebanon, the local support finally showed up with Garvo Lanete, Canaleta, and Anjo Caram all scoring in double figures. Amer himself was two points away from double figures.

With a chance to salvage a bronze medal, Amer and Canaleta were able to help out Durham and Stone. But again, it wasn’t enough.

Talking to Meralco head coach Norman Black, this is what he had to say about the Bolts’ Fiba Asia Champions Cup campaign, “I think our participation was a good experience for the players as well the coaching staff. For the players, it was a chance to play against some of the best players in Asia. For the coaches, we were able to scout and learn the systems of our opponents. When we left for the games our goal was to win as many games as possible and have a good finish. We did not get a medal so we are all disappointed by the results. But we are hoping the experience will help our players and our team in the long run.”

Unfortunately once more, Meralco lost by a whisker to BlackWater in its return to PBA Governors’ Cup action, 94-91, following a Paul Zamar triple (and the Bolts totally bungled their last offensive).

Durham had a chance to give Meralco a win, but he split his free throws, 91-all, setting up Zamar’s heroics.

Injuries have robbed the Bolts of weapons to contribute. And just my thought, after this campaign, maybe it is time to seriously re-tool the team; add a few more weapons. But as Coach Norman told me, because of the luck of the draft and not having enough blue chip players to trade, the Bolts make do with this hardworking team.

In previous seasons, they were leading the field but ran out of gas in the finals. With them struggling now at 1-4, they still have a chance. Let’s see if they fare better catching up and put to good use all that experience they have gained in these past three seasons.