Bolts, Tropang 5G unveil new imports for Game 4

Marvin Jones, unable to carry the Bolts in Game 3, will step aside as Meralco brings in Patrick Gardner. —PBA IMAGES

Meralco coach Luigi Trillo has allowed the sting of the Bolts’ Game 3 loss in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals to settle.

Now, he simply wants his team to forget what has happened, reset and even the series.

“I expect us to be better,” Trillo told the Inquirer on Tuesday over the phone. “I expect us to shoot better. I expect us to play better. This is a long series.”

“It’s not over by a long shot. This series is only starting. We can’t dwell too much on Game 3. That’s already water under the bridge.”

Forgetting might not be that hard.

There’s so much for Meralco to focus on, especially with the team bringing in a new import in 7-foot import Patrick Gardner, who previously played in Japan’s B.League, after it became clear Marvin Jones wouldn’t be enough to carry the Bolts to the Finals.

Moving on from that Game 3 loss, however, won’t be easy.

Meralco, with its complete lineup intact, still absorbed a narrow 77-75 defeat to a TNT side that played without an import.

But Trillo was hardly surprised by the Tropang 5G’s ability to compete despite the absence of reinforcement, Bol Bol, who exited the conference early because of a partially torn Achilles tendon.

“There’s a reason why they’re a championship team,” Trillo said.

“There’s a reason why those guys made back-to-back All-Filipino Finals. I warned before the game that even without Bol Bol, this TNT team knows how to play together.”

Locals deliver

And now, the Bolts will have to deal with a reinforced Tropang 5G.

TNT has tapped former NBA player Chris McCullough to replace Bol after earlier exploring options that included Darius Days, Marquese Chriss and eventually Malick Diouf. The Senegalese standout from the UAAP, however, failed to secure clearance in time to become the league’s first foreign student-athlete import.

“He’s a guy who can really put the ball in the basket, so it’s not going to be easy,” Trillo said of McCullough. “We know we have our work cut out for us. It’s something new that we have to prepare for.”

“We know McCullough is great in isolation. He’s got a good offensive game, he’s long and he’s a good pickup by TNT.”

TNT’s locals delivered when it mattered most in Game 3. Rey Nambatac led the Tropang 5G with 18 points and eight rebounds, while Calvin Oftana and Jordan Heading added 15 and 12 points, respectively.

Roger Pogoy finished with only nine points, but he knocked down the game-winning shot that gave TNT a crucial 2-1 series lead.

The two teams clash anew on Wednesday at Smart Araneta Coliseum. INQ