Meralco assistant coach Luigi Trillo took to Twitter Wednesday night and, from the looks of it, issued a challenge to the entire Bolts team.
His tweet came hours after their 78-92 defeat to Magnolia, which put them down 0-2 in their 2021 Honda PBA Philippine Cup semifinal series.
In the cryptic post, the long-time mentor apparently called for their players to have each other’s backs, particularly with franchise lifer Cliff Hodge.
“Hindi pwede 2 on 1,” opened Trillo’s post. “[Calvin] Abueva and [Jackson] Corpuz pinagtutulungan si Hodge. Nobody sumasalo. Playoffs na ito. May kasabihan nice soft guys finish last. Poor Cliff.
“Walang mga may b**** na tumulong.”
Hodge, 33, has been heavily involved in the series’ physicality. Back in Game One last Sunday, he had a moment with Hotshots counterpart Jackson Corpuz that saw him suffer a cut on the corner of his right eye.
And in Game Two, he had a couple of rugged battles with Calvin Abueva near the rim, both of which took place in the third quarter.
The first one happened at the 9:04-mark, where Hodge got hit by Abueva on the groin as the latter appeared to have lost balance. The other happened with 1:22 left that saw his foot reach Abueva’s face as they both fell on the floor.
And that last incident proved costly for the veteran Fil-Am bruiser. He was assessed with a flagrant foul penalty one, leading to his ejection from the game since he incurred a technical foul earlier in the match.
Meralco no longer had two of its top big men since. Raymond Almazan exited due to an ankle injury with 8:10 remaining in the same period.
To cap off his post, Trillo left a simple reminder that could help Meralco heading into Game Three on Friday.
“Umayos kayo!”
