THE Magnolia Hotshots have their backs against the wall in their semifinals series with the Meralco Bolts but Head Coach Chito Victolero remained unfazed.
“We’re down, but we are not out,” said Victolero the morning after the Bolts went 2-1 in the short race-to-three series via a 101-95 Game 3 victory on Sunday night at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Clinching the series means beating Meralco twice, now a daunting task for a team that topped the eliminations with only one loss in 11 outings, booted out Phoenix in the quarterfinals in one game and won the series opener, 94-80.
“We need to improve our defense because right now, the Bolts are attacking and they are scoring a lot,” Victolero said. “We also need to execute consistently on offense.”
He added: “But we need to be more patient and we just have to grind again the next game. Just try to prepare hard and hopefully execute well.”
The Bolts only need to win Game 4—scheduled for 6 p.m. on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum—to wrap up the series and potentially face the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Gin Kings who are also 2-1 up on the NLEX Road Warriors who they face at 3 p.m. also on Wednesday.
Magnolia did a good job on limiting Meralco’s prolific import Tony Bishop to a 5-of-19 shooting for 10 points in Game 1.
But Bishop erupted for 22 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in Game 2 and then had 27 points and 10 rebounds in Game 3 that put the Bolts closer to the Finals.
Victolero said his bench should step up and not rely solely on import Mike Harris, Paul Lee, Mark Barroca, Calvin Abueva and Jio Jalalon.
Victolero: We're down, but not out | Josef Ramos - BusinessMirror
Read More
No comments:
Post a Comment