In a snap, it was gone.
Once in the running for a twice-to-beat advantage for the 2018 Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals, the Meralco Bolts lost ground in the race on Sunday evening after bowing to the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in overtime.
It has been a rough week for the Orangemen. Just this past Wednesday, Meralco lost to the TNT Katropa, 85-91 – a loss that was hard to fathom, as they were left behind by a TNT side that did not have Joshua Smith in the last 18 minutes.
All that the Bolts needed to do to attain one of the Top Two spots was to sweep their final two games. But it went otherwise, and now Meralco will be settling for a best-of-three series in the quarters.
“Sayang, siyempre. Sayang,” rued Meralco’s top point guard Baser Amer moments after the match, where his efforts of 19 points and 10 rebounds went down the drain.
“Ganun talaga eh, ganun talaga yung basketball.”
The Bolts actually had chances to save their final game of the eliminations, but missed free throws hurt them badly. They blanked eight straight shots from the charity stripe, from the 7:20-mark of the fourth to the 4:09-mark of OT.
Overall, Meralco shot just 20-of-38 from the free throw line.
“Nakahabol kami nung second half ,kaso marami kaming na-miss na free throws. Dun lang,” lamented the cager from Davao, who only converted a pair of freebies on the five shots he got awarded, and shot just 8-for-21 from the field.
Now, after the unfortunate end to their run in the elimination round, Amer hopes that they will be able to take all the lessons they can get from their last two losses, for them to deliver better come the quarterfinals.
“Kailangan namin matuto. Yung mga mali namin nung last two games, dapat going into playoffs hindi na namin madala dun,” said the 25-year-old floor general.
“Yun, move on na lang, tapos back to practice, itama yung mga mali. Yun.”
