By all accounts the Meralco Bolts should be feeling pretty good about themselves right now. And, for the most part, they are, as they head into Game 3 with a chance to go ahead one game in their quarter-final series with the Alaska Aces.
However, if you are at all familiar with this team, you know that rarely do they do things the easy way.
Even in this best-of-five series, the uglier side of this team has shown itself far too often.
A decent Game 1 lost was followed by a complete Game 3 victory — it felt like they had it all figured out.
In Game 1, it looked like they had forgotten what made them successful in the previous games in the elimination round.
They looked that way again for three quarters in the second Game of the semifinals, before a dominant fourth rescued the team — and perhaps the series — sending them in equal terms with Alaska at one win apiece.
The question now is what can we expect in Game 3?
The honest answer? No one really knows.
Coach Norman Black knows exactly what he wants from his team, what he believes will get this team out of the first round to get that proverbial monkey off their backs.
Whether he gets it or not remains to be seen unless they play according to their identity on 29 April.
Playing to their identity is something this team has trouble with ... at least, doing it consistently gives them trouble. It’s not exactly a secret.
However, if you are at all familiar with this team, you know that rarely do they do things the easy way.
Even in this best-of-five series, the uglier side of this team has shown itself far too often.
A decent Game 1 lost was followed by a complete Game 3 victory — it felt like they had it all figured out.
In Game 1, it looked like they had forgotten what made them successful in the previous games in the elimination round.
They looked that way again for three quarters in the second Game of the semifinals, before a dominant fourth rescued the team — and perhaps the series — sending them in equal terms with Alaska at one win apiece.
The question now is what can we expect in Game 3?
The honest answer? No one really knows.
Coach Norman Black knows exactly what he wants from his team, what he believes will get this team out of the first round to get that proverbial monkey off their backs.
Whether he gets it or not remains to be seen unless they play according to their identity on 29 April.
Playing to their identity is something this team has trouble with ... at least, doing it consistently gives them trouble. It’s not exactly a secret.
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