MANILA – After ending San Miguel Beermen’s five-year reign, the Meralco Bolts will shift their focus on Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings in the semifinals of the 2020 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup starting on Wednesday.
Bolts head coach Norman Black admitted that it will be a tough semifinals for his wards, which reached the All-Filipino conference feat for the first time in its franchise, as they have not won a playoff series against the Kings.
In Meralco’s four playoffs encounters with Barangay Ginebra – three in the championship round of the PBA Governors’ Cup – the Kings were always the victors.
“The idea is to set the goal to make it to the championship, and of course for us to be able to do that, we have to go through Barangay Ginebra to get it done,” Black said in a post-match interview after Meralco’s 90-68 win over SMB in their do-or-die quarterfinals.
“They’ve been getting the better end of the matchup, but hopefully, we can change that this Philippine Cup,” he added.
Black said he sees Ginebra as the favored team in the series due to the excellent performance of Japeth Aguilar lately and the consistent plays of Earl Scottie Thompson and Stanley Pringle.
“We’re going to have to regroup after this (victory against the San Miguel Beermen) because the guys are really, really happy for making it to the semis, but the battle is only half won,” Black said./PN
