THE Meralco Bolts are bracing for a tough road back to the coveted PBA Philippine Cup throne with 11 highly determined challengers out for their head.
"Maraming teams lumakas because of the draft, some through trades," Bolts coach Luigi Trillo noted on the eve of the Bolts' title-retention bid.
Aside from the usual suspects like the grand slam-seeking TNT Tropang 5G, Barangay Ginebra, San Miguel Beer and Magnolia, Trillo noted the rise of the likes of Converge, Rain or Shine and NorthPort, which went deep in the last Commissioner's Cup playoffs.
"Maraming solid na teams - Converge, Rain or Shine, even NorthPort. 'Yung mga teams na 'yun, lumalim because of their draft picks and system," he noted.
The Bolts start their repeat drive against one of them, the FiberXers, in the 7:30 p.m. mainer of Friday's conference kickoff night.
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"The last two conferences, talo kami sa Converge," said Trillo, referring to their 97-105 setback in the season-opening Governors' Cup and 94-110 loss in the Commissioner's Cup.
"They added quality players recently like Balti (Justin Baltazar), (Jordan) Heading, (Rey) Suerte. Na-develop na rin nila sila (Alec) Stockton), (Justin) Arana (and) (Schonny) Winston)," he added.
Meralco's gang led by Chris Newsome, Bong Quinto, Chris Banchero, Cliff Hodge, Raymond Almazan and Allein Maliksi will be tested in a grueling schedule at the start of their repeat drive. After Converge, the Bolts will battle Terrafirma on Sunday, SMB on the PBA's 50th anniversary offering on April 9 and then Phoenix on April 13 with little turnaround times.
"We're just locked in on this stretch. We were given four games in the next nine days then one game in a month (afterwards) so balancing what we do leading up to those five games is important," said Trillo.
"Ngayon may mga bibigyan kami ng opportunity mag-contribute. Sa import conferences, mga 40 minutes din 'yun (load of import)," he added.
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The Bolts got stuck in the quarterfinals of the first two conferences, giving them added motivation to win the PBA's crown jewel back-to-back.
"I think All-Filipino (conference) talaga ang pinaka-prestigious na conference dahil locals ang nagdalala," said Trillo. (OL)
