The Meralco Bolts were reeling coming into their game against the Blackwater Bossing on Wednesday after suffering back-to-back defeats—first to the Titan Ultra Giant Risers and then to the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters. But the Bolts found their groove against the Bossing and rode an explosive second quarter to get a 105-96 victory for their first win of PBA Season 50.
After the game, Meralco coach Luigi Trillo and superstar veteran Chris Newsome acknowledged the Bolts’ early struggles but maintained they were hardly concerned. Newsome, in particular, pointed out that Meralco has seen adversity—in Season 48’s Philippine Cup—before and responded quite well. Now, faced with early hardships, Newsome prefers that his Bolts look at the big picture rather than dwell on their losses.
“For us it’s just keeping the big picture in mind at all times,” he told reporters after the game. “It’s always tough whenever you lose heartbreakers like that, close games like that. But it’s still early on in the season. Something that we talked about is that you never know what can happen throughout the season. Our championship season, we were one game away with three games to go and one loss would have put us out of the playoffs… but the veterans stepped up…”
Newsome: Meralco Keeping Big Picture in Mind
Newsome, of course, is alluding to that 2024 PBA Philippine Cup, where Meralco looked headed for an early exit after dropping to 3-5 in the eliminations. But they won their last three games in the elims, booted out NLEX 2-0 in the best-of-three quarterfinals, survived Ginebra 4-3 in the semis, and stunned San Miguel in six games in the Finals to win it all.
The key to that spectacular turnaround, as Newsome pointed out, was veterans like himself stepping up—and that’s precisely what Newsome is hoping to do again.
“What this program needs is the veterans to be vocal and the young guys to listen and adapt to what we’re doing,” Newsome emphasized. “Two losses are tough, but I think it’s more about the mental state and keeping everybody in the right mental mind frame to continue taking those losses and learn from them and move forward.”
Trillo echoed Newsome’s sentiment, reiterating later on that “these guys are vets” and that “they’ll discuss things in practices…” Now, it’s on them to build on this first win, especially with the Bolts set to face rivals Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and the newly reinvigorated Magnolia Hotshots this weekend.
