After the Meralco Boltshad a disappointing end to their 2024 PBA Governors’ Cup campaign, some fans are wondering if they are better off playing elsewhere and join other Asian Leagues. The team seemed to have found more success in the East Asia Super League (EASL) as they joined the 2024-2025 Season.
The Bolts even earned a 97-85 victory over the Macau Black Bears thanks to a balanced scoring attack that saw seven players from Meralco score at least seven points.
In their first game, the Bolts showed an offensive performance like no other, as they needed to answer the Black Bears’ runs in order to avoid the same fate the San Miguel Beermen had suffered earlier against the Suwon KT Sonicboom.
Chris Newsome really enjoys playing in the EASL, as he led Meralco with 18 points, three rebounds, six assists, and three steals. Newsome’s four 3-pointers also helped the Bolts extend their lead on a number of occasions, while his playmaking helped get the likes of Allen Durham (17 points), DJ Kennedy (17 points), Chris Banchero (14 points), and Raymond Almazan (seven points) involved. Even the fans seemed to be getting in on the hot shooting.
Even if Meralco is now the tournament veteran taking on the newcomer in Macau, it was still great to see the Bolts adjust to playing under a two-import and one-naturalized player system. Meralco also did not veer away from what they ran in the PBA and mixing this with what’s done in the rest of the world should give the PBA some scope to consider changes to their format.
Concerns with the two-import system may stem from Filipinos losing slots to foreigners, but the Bolts showed that the right imports can actually provide a boost and lift the games of the Filipinos in the roster. This holds true especially when PBA teams go for fit rather than star power, although sometimes teams do need star power.
For Meralco, having Allen Durham comes largely out of familiarity, but the addition of Kennedy gives them a dynamic scorer with experience. Of course, the Bolts had their fair share of scorers in Newsome, Banchero, and the injured Allein Maliksi, but it helps to have depth offensively once the latter stages of the competition begin.
The Meralco Bolts may have played in the comforts of the Mall of Asia Area to open up the 2024-2025 EASL Season, but they will be the road team for two of their next three games. That could provide some measure of difficulty for the Bolts, but given how they’ve adapted thus far in the EASL, the next few games could be their way of showing that Philippine teams are more than just crowd drawers for the EASL.
No comments:
Post a Comment