Meralco ready for early adversities: ‘We have to be open-minded with where we are’
Coach Luigi Trillo is steadfast in the belief that Meralco wouldn’t get too caught up thinking about its first PBA crown when the Bolts navigate the upcoming 49th season.
“When you’re young, sometimes, you wouldn’t know how to handle success. I’m one to talk about such an experience as I’ve been in teams where we’ve won then in two conferences, we’d fall flat on our faces,” he told the Inquirer.
“That said, because I feel like we’re an older team, I expect the players to police each other. I expect us to know how to respond when [adversities] come our way. I know there’s gonna be plenty of that this year,” he went on.
Meralco is coming off its franchise-first PBA title after ruling the Philippine Cup. And having been in the game for quite some time, Trillo—a two-time champion head coach with four more to show as an assistant—is aware that the Bolts have come from being the hunters to being the hunted.
“We now have this big bull’s eye on our backs,” he said. “We’re extremely proud and are still enjoying (this off-season). But the reality is what we did will hardly matter moving forward.”
“The only thing I know for a fact is that we’re going to be worse first before we do good because we haven’t had the time to fully practice [as a team].”
Skipper and championship series hero Chris Newsome is still spending his well-deserved break after a Gilas tour that cost him his vacation.
Optimism
And then there’s the fact that returning resident import Allen Durham is far from his optimal playing shape.
Still, Trillo knows that these are all but hiccups. And much of that optimism stems from the Bolts being full of top-shelf players, which includes No. 11 pick CJ Cansino.
“We have CJ, who was once captain of the UP team that had much success recently. AD has been consistently doing well wherever he goes. Character guys all around, so we are confident (thanks to) that,” he said. “The important thing to me is not how you start, but how you finish. And when the playoffs come, I know we’ll be sound.”
“In an ideal world, you’d like to be good from start until the end. But we have to be open-minded with where we are,” Trillo said.
“We know from experience—and seeing it—that things are going to be hard to start out fluidly,” he said
Considering how Meralco from nearly suffering an early exit to dismantling the stacked San Miguel Beermen for the crown last conference, Trillo and the Bolts, indeed know what they’re doing.
