Meralco head coach Norman Black clearly wasn’t happy after the Bolts lost to the Alaska Aces, 89-93, Sunday.
The Bolts rallied from 13 down and knocked within just a point with 1:45 left. Unfortunately, it still wasn’t enough for Black to find any positives in the loss that snapped their two-game winning streak in the 2019 PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
The decorated bench strategist asserted Meralco didn’t deserve to win, lamenting the way they shot from the free throw line. The Bolts converted only 10 of the 23 shots rewarded to them, which mostly came from the Aces’ 27 fouls.
Black also rued the way they took care of the ball, since Meralco committed 22 turnovers which Alaska turned to 24 points.
‘To be quite honest with you, the way we played tonight, I don’t think we deserved to win the game.
“We had way too many turnovers, we missed way too many foul shots,” said Black moments after the loss at Ynares Center in Antipolo.
“We had our opportunity to win this basketball game and we didn’t come up with the plays down the stretch. You just can’t miss that many foul shots and turn the ball over that much, and expect to win,” added the American coach.
Another of Black’s concerns was the way they moved the ball, as they only had 13 assists. For him, wins usually come when they pass better, as evidenced by their 22.0-assist average in their three wins this conference.
“That’s really been my concern so far in this conference.
“It seems that when the locals are involved in the offense, then we do a lot better. When the offense is a little bit stagnant, as it was tonight – I think we only had about 13 assists or 15 assists – then we struggle,” he said.
“So we need better ball movement if we want to win. In the games that we moved the basketball, we won. In the games that we became a little bit one-on-one oriented, we lost,” added Black, Meralco’s chief mentor since 2014.
In the loss, Gani Lawal was yet again the lynchpin of Meralco’s offense with 27 points and 26 rebounds. Black acknowledges the efforts of his import, but he wants to see him take care of the ball more and involve his teammates.
Lawal had eight turnovers and just one assist versus Alaska.
“Gani’s been productive. I mean, let’s not kid ourselves. I think he’s averaging 28 points and 23 rebounds, 22 rebounds a game. So that’s productive. But at the same time, he has to do a better job of making his teammates better,” said Black. “Because tonight he had one assist and eight turnovers, and that’s really been the ratio since he’s been here. So while he does get his points and he does get his rebounds, he also has to focus on how he can make his teammates better.
“I think eight turnovers is just way too many, and I think he’s averaging about six a game for the tournament. So those are areas where he has to improve as an import.”
