KINGS OUT TO KEEP STREAK ALIVE VS BOLTS

KINGS OUT TO KEEP STREAK ALIVE VS BOLTS

Meralco coach Ryan Gregorio foresees his Bolts and the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings figuring in an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation Friday night.

“Both teams can’t afford to put their guards down. Each one can’t blink,” he says.

A battle is really expected as the Bolts and the Kings clash in the 7:30 p.m. mainer of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Friday twinbill at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Meralco (4-4) is a game up on Ginebra (3-5) but the former has lost its most recent outing while the latter is coming off two straight wins.

“It’s dangerous to play Ginebra now with their confidence level oozing. That’s why steps will be taken to limit Mark Caguioa, LA Tenorio and the highlight reels of Vernon Macklin,” said Gregorio.

“Defense will play a major role to stop their momentum,” Gregorio added.

In beating champion teams San Mig Coffee and Talk n Text in their last two games, Ginebra coach Alfrancis Chua said they’ve proven they can win with the lineup that they have.

“Dalawang malaking isda yung nahuli namin. Nasa-cellar pa rin kami pero dikit-dikit naman. We just have to keep on winning,” Chua said.

The two teams are both out to improve their stock in the middle of the standings. Meralco has a chance to gain solo fourth behind Alaska, Petron and Rain or Shine while Ginebra takes a shot at joint fifth or even joint fourth depending on the result of the Talk n Text-Petron Blaze tiff.

“Hindi ko hinihingi sa team ko ang panalo. Ang hinihingi ko sa kanila sundin ang kailangan namin gawin. Susunod na ang panalo doon,” said Chua said.

For Gregorio, the goal is to get better shots, work on efficiency and accuracy on the offensive end while ensuring that defense is tight throughout.

“In the four games that we’ve won, we had a 45 percent clip. It dropped to 35 percent in the four games that we’ve lost. We averaged 97.5 points in won games and went on a dive, 80.0, in games lost,” Gregorio noted.

And Gregorio insisted they can’t blink.

“The race to the top is so tight. A win can propel us to the top while a mishap can drop us down to the cellar,” Gregorio said.

Moving out of the cellar with their key wins over the Mixers and the Tropang Texters, the Kings’ mindset is to get going and close in on the leaders.

“Kailangan humabol,” said Chua. (SB)