MANILA – After the Bolts defeated the Kings to level the series 1-1 last Friday, both teams will fight to break the deadlock in Game 3 of the 2019 PBA Governor’s Cup finals at 6:30 p.m. tonight at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
A torrid Game 2 for Bolts converted 16 triples, including crucial outside hits from Baser Amer late in the game to survive the chasing Ginebra 104-102.
“There’s nobody happier than me to see Baser really break out
and explode against Ginebra. A lot of those shots were some long-range threes,”
said Coach Black to Amer.
“I hope he can continue to do that on Sunday
when we play them again in Game 3. I think it will give him a lot of confidence
going forward,” he added.
Kings head coach Tim Cone is however not that
all disappointed with his wards’ performance after fighting back from double
digit deficits several times. However, he admitted that they need to improve
their defense as the best-of-seven series goes on.
“They [Meralco] were able to do exactly what
they wanted in both games and we were lucky to win the first one, and they
dominated us here in the second game. At this point, we got a lot to go back to
in the drawing board,” Cone said.
“We were on our heels all game long. We battled
back, which I’m proud of, but that’s not going to be enough for this series,”
he added. “Being proud of the guys is not going to win the series for us. We
got to do more.”/PN