Tag: firstPBAtitle

Tag-team effort of Vucinic, Trillo leads to Meralco’s first PBA title

On: By: admin


MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

Coach Luigi Trillo and active consultant Nenad Vucinic shared the podium for the first time on Sunday night, and appropriately so after Meralco overcame hardships to win a first-ever PBA championship.

For both, the Bolts’ road to Philippine Cup glory at the expense of the favored San Miguel Beermen is something that would have not been a possibility without their team buying in.

“Credit to the players because they responded. It took a lot of them to get out of that hole,” Trillo said after a nail-biting 80-78 title-clinching win at Smart Araneta Coliseum made possible by Chris Newsome’s last-second shot from the baseline.

Trillo and Vucinic, both designated by management to call the shots after long-time mentor Norman Black took a lesser role as consultant, and the Bolts were on the brink of elimination when a stunning loss to winless Converge left them at 3-5 and outside of the playoff picture.

At that time, a championship, let alone a spot in the quarterfinals, seemed like a distant possibility. But Meralco somehow persevered, and both witnessed their players lift the Jun Bernardino Perpetual Trophy.

“The players, they bought in and worked hard though it was very hard for them to understand,” said Vucinic, the Serbian-born former New Zealand national team coach.

Forgotten second placers

The triumph, which was also Meralco’s first major basketball title since the 1971 MICAA Open, was also a redemption of sorts for the coaching duo.

Trillo has been with the Bolts since 2014 as an assistant under Black, and shared the bitter feeling of losing four times in the Finals with Newsome, Cliff Hodge, Anjo Caram and Reynel Hugnatan, now a member of the coaching staff.

Before Game 5, Trillo spoke about how no one remembers being second place. Now, everyone will remember Meralco’s first.

“It wasn’t easy getting there,” he said. “They’ve been through four Finals appearances, a lot of pain. To gut it out this way, to really earn it—I’m saying about getting respect—it’s very fulfilling for us.”

Vucinic, meanwhile, had a previous short run as Meralco consultant in the 2022 Philippine Cup with Black still calling the shots before deciding to leave at the end of a seven-game semis loss to San Miguel.

But for some reason, the Bolts came calling again in 2023.

“The thing is when a new face comes in, especially a new face across the world—and this team has been under huge pressure to get the championship—we struggled I have to say because you have to implement a new system with new coaches and it’s difficult,” he said.

Now that the breakthrough title has been fulfilled, the talk now is whether Meralco can run it back for a shot at another one or multiple titles on the horizon. For the meantime, that thought will have to take a backseat.



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“The future of Meralco is a party. A huge party,” said Vucinic. “After the party, we will talk about it.” INQ

Allein Maliksi helps put Bolts on threshold of first PBA title

On: By: admin


Meralco Bolts’ Allein Maliksi tries to slip past the defense of San Miguel Beermen’s Chris Ross during Game 5 of the PBA Philippine Cup Finals. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

Allein Maliksi admitted coming into Game 5 of the PBA Philippine Cup Finals with a chip on his shoulder, especially from the number of articles he read over the past 48 hours.

“Nakaka-challenge (It challenges you),” Maliksi said late Friday evening after playing a pivotal role in Meralco’s 92-88 victory over San Miguel Beer at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The win gave Bolts a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series to move within a win of their franchise’s first championship.

Maliksi noted how he, Bong Quinto and Raymond Almazan were maligned for their off-shooting the previous game when the Bolts practically subsisted on Chris Newsome’s career-high 40 points, which eventually were not enough for the result they had wanted.

Offensively, the three were nonfactors in Game 4, which they were able to atone for in a contest where Meralco also got its defensive swagger back while surviving a late San Miguel rally.

“‘Pag maganda laro mo, maganda mga writeups. Pero ‘pag struggling ka, may mababasa kang write-ups (When you play good, the writeups are good. But if you’re struggling, you read [negative] writeups),” said Maliksi, who wound up with 22 points on 10-of-17 shooting while also doing his share on the other end.

“I really challenged myself to be aggressive, to be a leader and to be a veteran,” he continued in Filipino.

Roles reversed

Almazan had 14 while Quinto chipped in eight, which eased much of the weight Newsome carried from Game 4.

“I told Bong and Raymond that we have to step up because sometimes even when I struggle, the team is playing well. Even if I struggle, I give way to my teammates and we are able to step up,” Maliksi said.

The roles were reversed this time, as Newsome struggled early on, then put up shot after shot to help Meralco gain control in the fourth, eventually equaling Maliksi’s output of 22 points for the Bolts. Chris Banchero and Cliff Hodge were also crucial on both ends too. And now the Bolts will try to close it out with the first of two chances on Sunday at the Big Dome.

A victory allows Meralco to not only capture a PBA crown for the first time, but end a 52-year wait to be on top of the mountain in big-time basketball, having been MICAA Open champions in 1971.

Meralco won despite San Miguel star June Mar Fajardo producing a season-high 38 points, much of which he had to work for against a tough Meralco defense led by Almazan and rookie Brandon Bates.

Crucial miss

But like Newsome the previous time, it was Fajardo which sorely needed a support as CJ Perez was the only other San Miguel player in double figures with 17, and the fiery swingman needed 16 attempts—missing 12 of them—to reach that total.



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Perez also missed a crucial free throw late when San Miguel rallied from a 10-point deficit. The split from the line pulled the Beermen within two, 90-88, but Newsome iced it by knocking down two of his freebies, time down to six seconds, for the final count.