Chris Newsome and the rest of Meralco refuse to celebrate even after downing San Miguel in the PBA Philippine Cup Finals opener on Wednesday night.
It’s actually the second time in this conference that the Bolts have beaten the Beermen, but the star guard warned that they could be figuring in a long series against their repeat-seeking counterparts even with the head start.
“Winning Game One is always a big help, but by no means are we happy or satisfied. It’s just one game,” he offered shortly after their 93-86 Game 1 triumph at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
“There’s so much work that has to be done.”
It was a solid display of team effort from Meralco, with main man Newsome himself leading the way with 18 points, seven rebounds, and five assists.
Chris Banchero was solid with 18 to his name, too, alongside six rebounds and five dimes as well, with Bong Quinto and veteran gunslinger Allein Maliksi producing 15 markers apiece to help out in the well-deployed attack.
Then there was Cliff Hodge, who had 15 rebounds and seven assists as he did a commendable job in making it difficult for June Mar Fajardo inside, of course with aid from Raymond Almazan, Brandon Bates, and Kyle Pascual.
“As far as cracking the code on them, it’s almost impossible to crack the San Miguel code. You just got to go out and play your best basketball and just give them a great team effort,” Newsome said.
That kind of effort was reminiscent of what they showed in their elimination round meeting, where the Bolts took the 95-92 decision in Batangas to deal the Beermen their first loss of the tournament after winning its first 10 games.
Yes, San Miguel has yet to win against Meralco in this conference but Newsome is hardly confident of their chances in this best-of-7 series.
To prove how difficult things could get, he cited their semis duel versus Ginebra, where the Kings took the opener and moved a win away from the Finals only for the Bolts to force a Game 7 and, eventually, get the ticket to the Big Dance.
“You can look back at our last series against Ginebra, they won Game One and we ended up winning the series. So, it doesn’t necessarily mean that because we won Game One that we won the series,” he said.
Plus, they’re facing a Beermen that’s long been dreaded in the field, bringing up the historic ‘Beeracle’ run that saw Coach Leo Austria’s team crawl back from a 0-3 deficit to beat Alaska and win the 2016 Philippine Cup title.
“This team is a championship team, a dynasty team. They are capable of doing amazing things. You were all there for the Beeracle, you know that you can never count this team out,” said the 33-year-old Newsome.
That’s why for him, it’s never safe to bet against their opponents even if they have beaten them twice in the conference, and all of them are bracing for retaliation come Game 2 on Friday night, still at the Big Dome.
“All I know is they’re going to go back to the drawing board, and they’re going to find ways to try to execute much better and to counter everything that we did tonight,” said the former Rookie of the Year.
“That’s how good of an organization they are – they’re very smart all the way through. They’re proven winners, so you can never count out the heart of a champion. For us, it’s just about staying humble and staying focused.”
