After drawing even, Bolts prepare for grueling do-or-die slugfest

The Meralco Bolts did what they had to do Wednesday night, locking in a 98-91 victory over Barangay Ginebra San Miguel in Game 6 of the PBA Governors’ Cup finals and force a do-or-die Game 7 at the Philippine Arena on Friday.

“The battle cry for my team tonight was just to play on Friday. We wanted to have another chance to play on Friday,” said Meralco head coach Norman Black.

“Our defense was pretty solid although Ginebra started to find holes in it in the end. Offensively, Garvo Lanete got us off to a very good start from the perimeter, and Reynel Hugnatan followed it up by making some shots. AD was still very solid inside the paint. And we just have to do it one more time.”

The multi-titled coach, however, understands that it won’t be easy to repeat against the Gin Kings: “One thing I know about coach Tim is you can’t do the same thing twice. That’s for sure. He will find a way to come back. We have a lot of work to do between now and Friday.”

But for the Bolts, the opportunity to play in this atmosphere was something they wanted all along.

“It just comes down to one game, the entire season. We just have to find a way to keep our guys fresh and show up on Friday ready to win a championship," Black said.

“To be honest with you this is where we wanted to be the entire conference. We wanted to put ourselves in a situation where we could win this championship. The hard part is we’re against very tough competition and they wanna do the same thing. They wanna win,” he added. — BAP, GMA News