On Wednesday night against the Meralco Bolts, the defending champions TNT Tropang 5G looked every bit a team capable of defending their crown. Led by the towering Bol Bol, the Tropa fended off the Meralco Bolts, 94-89, to take a 1-0 lead in their semis series and reassert what has been complete domination of the Bolts.
Meralco active consultant Nenad Vucinic isn’t at all surprised. In fact, he thinks TNT is “the toughest team” in the PBA. Even so, Vucinic believes the Bolts can beat the Tropa—and that they lost because of one unfortunate dry spell in the final frame no less.
“We had a dry patch in the fourth quarter. From the start of the fourth quarter to about six minutes in, we couldn’t really get anything going offensively,” Vucinic pointed out to reporters after Game 1. “But again, we’re playing against a good defensive team, so it’s not easy, but we should’ve done better… Apart from that, I think we played a good game. Obviously TNT is the toughest team in the league…”
Vucinic Remains Defiant That Meralco Can Win
Dating back to TNT’s 4-1 semis victory over Meralco in the last Philippine Cup, the Tropa have now won five of their last six semis games against the Bolts. That’s not exactly an encouraging sign for Meralco, but Vucinic is unfazed. He’s adamant the Bolts can beat Tropang 5G—but it will take a little something extra.
“We can play better,” Vucinic maintained. “They’re a good team, we know that. High-level players with [Calvin] Oftana, [RR] Pogoy, [Jayson] Castro, and [Jordan] Heading… But they had five, six losses in the elimination round, so they’re beatable. We have to play probably a little more disciplined than we did today.”
“We can play better.” That could be Meralco’s mantra and mindset over the course of this series. Maybe, just maybe, it could inspire belief among the Bolts that they do have what it takes to beat TNT in a best-of-seven series.
Whether Meralco actually plays better is another matter.
