Meralco eyes spark after breakthrough EASL triumph
CITY OF ILAGAN, Isabela—Meralco Bolts active consultant Nenad Vucinic said the team knew what it was getting into when they accepted the challenge of representing the PBA in the East Asia Super League (EASL).
Now, the Serbian coach hopes to “perhaps get some legs” as his team seeks to improve its less-than-impressive records in both the PBA and EASL tournaments.
“We accepted these (responsibilities), so we have to [continue],” he said, adding that the Bolts hope that a payback victory over Taiwan’s Taoyuan Pilots will spark some sort of revival for Meralco.
The Bolts own a 3-4 (win-loss) card in the PBA and a 1-2 record in the EASL.
“We played seven games in the PBA, probably in 19 days, and we lost four games,” he admitted.
The Bolts broke into the EASL win column with a victory over the Pilots here, but are performing below the expectations put on their shoulders after the signing of Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Gilas Pilipinas naturalized player Justin Brownlee. However, Brownlee was not available due to pneumonia and was temporarily replaced by Ange Kouame.
“Ange (Kouame) is still out of shape, but he is trying hard to be fit (possibly for the next games),” Vucinic added.
